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GABRIEL ANTONIO
Gabriel and Edmundo Mondragon working at neighboring benches.

Gabriel Antonio

The work

I’m Gabriel. I design engagement rings, wedding bands and personal commissions in Rosenberg, Texas, working alongside my grandfather at Mondragon’s.

The approach

Each piece begins with a conversation. Some designs start on screen and others are carved in wax. We revise the piece together, and you approve it before anything is cast.

The materials

Gold, platinum, lab-grown and natural diamonds, colored gemstones, or stones and metal you already own. Certified stones come with their grading report. Pieces are cast, set and finished in house.

Gabriel as a young boy holding his grandfather’s hand.
My grandfather and me.

At the next bench

The building has been a jewelry shop since 1952, and my grandfather has worked here since 1990.

This shop was my daycare. I grew up playing with the tools, rolling pennies flat, drawing on the bench in sharpie, and turning up every morning for “work,” which at that age meant play.

While I continue to make music and build a media company, late in 2025 I came back to the bench next to my grandfather.

The Mondragon’s Jewelry sign in Rosenberg, Texas.
Mondragon’s, Rosenberg, Texas.

Working together

Commissions are taken by appointment, a few at a time. Each piece is priced on the stones, the metal, and how much hand work the design asks for.

The order runs: conversation, concept, your approval, then the build. You'll have a firm number in writing before any of it begins, and payment follows the work: a design fee to start and hold your place in the queue, half when you sign off on the design, the rest before it ships or you collect it.

If you're not nearby

You don't have to be in Texas: the conversation happens on video, you approve the design on screen exactly the way anyone does, and I send photos as it comes together. For sizing, get measured at any jeweler near you and send me the number, and the finished piece ships insured.

Afterwards

Jewelry gets worn every day for decades, so prongs wear down and settings loosen and things need looking at. The person who built your piece is still here when that happens, and cleanings are free whenever you bring it in.

Original photograph of page 1 of Gabriel’s handwritten shop work contract from March 2007, with all handwriting visible.Original photograph of page 2 of Gabriel’s handwritten shop work contract from March 2007, with all handwriting visible.
Read the handwritingShow photograph

Work contract

Transcribed as closely as possible, with spelling and punctuation lightly clarified.

This is the paper that will tell you what to do. If you do not do one of the very important things, you will go to jail or pay $2,500.00. The other rules will make the customers unhappy. If you make them unhappy, you will possibly be fired.

These are the rules that are important:

  1. No guns showing.
  2. No lying to get more money.
  3. No hurting any customers.
  4. No trash talk in front of the customers.
  5. Do not mess up what they will buy.

Those are the important rules. If you break any of those rules, you will go to jail or pay $2,500.00.

These are the other rules:

  1. No farting.
  2. No hating.
  3. No getting mad.

These are the rules that will make you fired.

Signed: Gabriel
Date: March 13, 2007
Me: Gabriel

An early start

My work contract for the shop, signed March 2007. I was eight. Rule four: no trash talk in front of the customers.

Have something in mind?

The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Start your design