The Baak Gallery

I do not recommend buying expensive jewelry from this source. My BF bought me a beautiful and expensive ring from here. I was a little concerned from the start when I noticed that the side diamonds were not all aligned, but was so upset to find that one of the tiny side diamonds had fallen out — after only a month of gentle wear.
I paid to get the diamond replaced, but within a day or two of wear, two more fell out. Very depressing.

I had a very mixed experience here.
I was looking for an engagement ring and found what I wanted in this store. I planned on proposing on a trip to Spain and I came into the store just over 3 weeks from leaving to give myself plenty of time for any problems that might arise (no reason to take any risks on such a big thing).
The ring in the display was a size 6, and I told them I needed it in an 8. I asked what size diamond would fit in the ring and they told me a .5 carat would fit, so I gave the specifications for the stone I wanted and was told they would get back to me when I could pick out a diamond. The lady (the designer’s mother) was very nice and helpful even though she was a little hard to understand and communicate with at times.
A week and a half passed and I got a call that they had found a few diamonds to my specifications and I could come in and choose one. I scheduled an appointment for the following Saturday and came in. The diamonds were beautiful, and I really appreciated that they deal in Canadian diamonds. Up to this point everything seemed very pleasant.
That’s when things started going awry. When I asked when the ring would be ready (expecting it to probably be later that day), they told me my setting hadn’t arrived yet. What? Hadn’t arrived? I bought it out of your display case and asked for it to be resized. They told me that they had ordered a size 8 from the manufacturer… in Hong Kong. It would probably take 4 weeks to ship (it had been 2 weeks already, and only 1 week from departure).
Also, I was then informed that the stone I ordered was too big. The ring only supported a .3 carat diamond. I never cared how big the diamond was (I was more interested in the perfect ring) — the only reason I ordered the half carat was because they told me to. It turned out that the manufacturer was going to have to add another 3 weeks onto the order to reform the head of the ring to fit the bigger stone. Now it’s up to 7 weeks for delivery, 5 more from the day of this meeting.
Needless to say, I wasn’t very happy about this. I never ordered a ring from Hong Kong, I bought a ring from them. I didn’t have 5 more weeks to wait, I had 1 more week. I quickly went around to other jewelers to find a setting that I would be happy with that could easily be resized in a day or two, and after I found one I came back to Baak Gallery to tell them to just give me my diamond and cancel the order for the ring.
This is when things went really south. The designer started talking about their no refund policy («it was clearly printed on your receipt»). There are several issues with this: it isn’t a refund if you never delivered the merchandise, you can’t try to enforce something as part of a business deal that you unilaterally inserted after the deal was complete (on the receipt of purchase), etc. They also said that two months was a perfectly standard amount of time for getting a piece of jewelry (um… no), and that I didn’t know because I’m not a jeweler. She also bragged a lot about where her work has been displayed and how she has studios all across the world and all of this other nonsense that had absolutely nothing to do with my problem.
After arguing for a bit (why did I have to argue when I’m buying an expensive piece of jewelry from them?) I got them to take the size 6 and resize it in their studio (which is what they should have done in the first place).
To their credit, they got it done in a few days, in plenty of time (though up until that moment I didn’t entirely believe they’d get it done). Whether their mistake or mine, it was slightly too big, so when I got back from Spain I took it to another jeweler (that I’ve worked with before) to be resized. You couldn’t pay me to take it back to that woman to get it fixed.
Pros — The mother is very nice, they deal in Canadian diamonds, and in my case they had a very unique ring that was unlike anything I had seen anywhere else
Cons — The daughter (the designer) is incredibly rude and incredibly full of herself. They will order a ring from the other side of the globe without telling you and then expect you to be happy to wait 2 months to get it.
Go in and look at their merchandise. Order a diamond from them if you are concerned about where the diamond comes from. But do yourself a favor and just take whatever setting they have in the case and take it to a real jeweler to have adjusted… you’ll get it faster, and you’ll get a lot better service.

I would give zero stars if I could. We worked with Ana Katarina on my engagement ring. I had to take it back to be repaired no fewer than six times in about six months. In the final repair, Ana Katarina said that she could redo it for an additional fee. Seriously?! At that point, we said we’d rather pay someone else to fix it than continue to have to deal with her.
Additionally, she was incredibly difficult to get ahold of, unreliable when she said she would meet up with us, and generally the worst service provider I’ve ever encountered.
It’s true my engagement ring turned out beautiful, but the stress on both my fiancé and I of having to deal with this while planning a wedding was not worth it.
AVOID this place if at all possible! It’s a total disaster.

I was planning to propose to my beautiful partner and needed a ring that would fit her tone. I did a lot of research in and outside of the area for someone that specialized in the beautiful art of jewelry making. It was also important that the jewelry were to be of ethical standard.
Ana Katarina came up in my research, she sounded phenomenal and I wanted to work with her. She was open to working with me and really tried to understand what I was hoping for and who my partner was. It was also important that the ring be extraordinary and yet, not draw too much attention given that my partner works in the Humanitarian sector.
Ana Katarina had my personal and partners interest in mind during the process. We worked through several revisions of designs (hand sketched and Computer Aided Design) and looked at several options for stones.
The ring was a beautiful creation. A Rose Gold design with a brilliant blue sapphire center surrounded by cognac diamonds.
It was the piece — so right for my partner. It was beautiful, elegant and so, right.
We’re (especially my partner) both very proud and thankful for the beautifully created piece and look forward to working with Ana Katarina in the future.

The BAAK Gallery sold us a faulty engagement ring. A side diamond fell out only 3 weeks after we purchased it. BAAK blamed us and charged us for the repair, claiming I impacted it roughly. We had another jeweler examine the ring and he said the design was flawed and we would continue to have problems with it. That sucked, but it was our engagement ring and had a lot of sentimental value, so I continued to wear it. Sure enough, another diamond fell out a couple months later. We hadn’t even gotten married yet! We tried to return it but they won’t give us our money back, claiming it was not their fault. They wrote us saying the ring is «not to be worn while taking showers, washing dishes, doing house chores or performing similar manual work,» because it might «get in contact with hard surfaces.» They never told us this when we bought it, otherwise why the hell would we buy an engagement ring to hold a $ 10K center diamond that I’d have to take off every time I ever did anything with my hands?! I’m a teacher. The last thing I want to do is worry about taking my extremely valuable ring on and off and storing it safely when I’m not wearing it. An engagement ring is supposed to be worn for life. There are hard surfaces everywhere you go. Am I supposed to live in a world of pillows? I could go on about how criminally the BAAK Gallery has treated us, but I’ll spare you. We are now filing a lawsuit against them. Stay away from the BAAK Gallery if you want jewelry that you can wear outside of your bedroom. Oh wait, there are hard surfaces in there too. Rotten people.

Most of their extraordinary pieces are out of reach for me and definitely on my wishlist. But they specialize in silver jewelry in the Abrano Silver adjoining store, where I’ve brought unique and affordable bracelets, earings, necklaces, and gifts over the last two years. I’ve told my friends who also find the spot pretty irresistible. The staff, especially the owner is very personalbe.

I had a groupon. I wanted hoop earings. That’s all. I don’t care for pressure. I’m looking into locked, glass cases, of jewelery; the older woman is being overly solicitous. Shows me large hoops. Is in the ballpark of what I want-«495“she mumbles in an indecearnable accent. 495?, I repeat. Yes, as in «500 dollars».
Look, I just want some simple, hoop earings. Jeez! Then, she pushed these heavy, C shaped earings. She wouldn’t accept ‘no’. Anytime I just tried to look at something, she’d open the case&try to make me wear it. Pushy! Then when she saw I had a groupon, snarky! Why would you sponsor a program, you disdain? If you must shop here, AVOID the older woman!!! She plied me w/​stuff I didn’t want-​then insulted. Worst sales person. She should stay w/​gingerbread houses, ala Hansel&Gretel. I do like the siver bracelet, I purchased; the quality of the product, is far superior to the cursed, TRUE BLOOD-​esque character I encountered.

I had a great experience here after my fiancé purchased me a pair of earrings that were quite similar to a pair I already had. I was able to easily exchange them for another gorgeous pair… the hardest part of the whole process was deciding which of their lovely jeweled earrings to choose from. The staff was extremely friendly & attentive and the selection was wonderful. They have a special (not sure how long it will last) that allows you to pick a random discount from a large basket of gift cards, and every purchase gets at least a small % off…
I was lucky and selected 30% off which came in very handy when I found a gorgeous pair of earrings at Abrano Silver– their silver store next door :)

I just got my engagement ring adjusted, and it came back within a week and it looked great! They polished it up and it looked like when I first got it over 5 years ago! The price was definitely reasonable. The staff is extremely helpful, (although maybe because we are looking to buy another band), but they took the time to speak with us. The rings that we looked at in the store seemed to be reasonably priced.

This is my all time favorite jewelry store. I have several pieces of jewelry from them and they are among my favorite pieces. If you are looking for a gift for any woman, go there!
You can find something for every budget whether you choose from the jewelry among the gallery or in the adjoining store, Abrano Silver.
The staff is super! They know their stuff, they will treat you like family and they don’t pressure you into buying.
They also have so much to choose from. Every time I go in I seem to find something different that wasn’t there before.
I highly recommend stopping in and seeing what you can find!

WARNING: This is a tedious, sordid, blow by blow of my grievances with Baak. It only deals with their jeweler service, not the jewelery, and I was pretty annoyed when I wrote it. But if you want to know what customer service is like there, read on…
I went into Baak originally to get two rings from my grandmother resized for me. I didn’t know my ring size so the nice older woman there gave me one of those sizer things. I tried on a few of them with her, and we both agreed that for my ring finger, the 6 was a bit small, and the 6.5 a bit large. I asked her to compromise on a 6.25 and size them both that way.
When I picked them up, they seemed a bit tight, but I was in a hurry so I just took them. Over the next few months I realized they were unwearably tight and would bruise my knuckle in a scary way. I went back, and said that I wanted to check to see if they were accurately sized, and that they were supposed to be a 6.25. She went on to me about how my fingers will change size if I have my period. I’m six feet tall and have slender, bony fingers that rarely swell, but despite the presumptuousness of that comment, I said no, I was sure they weren’t right, because I’d been trying to wear them over several months.
Lo and behold, she check the size and they are a 5.25! We look up the slip, and it turned out she had written 5.25 on it. I said there must be some mistake, she again said my fingers must have changed size. I said that perhaps she had made a mistake writing it down. She said rather angrily that she had been a jeweler for 30 years and that was impossible. I said, ok, well will you charge me for resizing them. She said she might have to.
At this point I said in frustration that I would just take my business elsewhere. She agreed rather sourly to resize them without charge. I also gave them my engagement ring to size, because I still felt bad having them do something for free over a mistake and wanted to give them business.
I just went back to pick them up. One was sized to a 6.25 and the other two were sized to a 6.5. I said I asked that they all be a 6.25. Both the women there assured me that my fingers would swell in summertime. What? if so, why size one to a 6.25? And is it too much to just size to what I ask without assumptions or excuses about the weather or how my fingers might swell?
Now my engagement ring, and another, both of which have reasonably heavy stones, slide around my finger and usually end up uncomfortably facing my palm. I’m going to go somewhere else to get them resized and pay another $ 120.
Although to their credit, they said this time that I could come back if they weren’t right, I just can’t handle the unpleasantness of the interaction anymore, and I’d rather pay someone else who’ll get it right the first time, and not lecture me about my body’s salt balance.

Pretty and fancy jewelry with prices that match.
My mom really likes this store… I prefer to go to the store that is kind of part of this one — Abrano (there’s an open doorway between the two in the back of the store) which has lots of pretty things at a better price for my wallet.
However once I become a huge success ha ha ha — I would love to be able to actually buy things here instead of admire from afar.

I totally echo ellie l’s comments. Perfect gift place because the pieces are unique and original. It is definitely kind of pricey, but look out for good deals — apparently I am not a jewelry connoisseur because many pieces look similarly beautiful to me but will have wildly different prices. Also, I find that the earrings are particularly affordable (and more of a sure thing when giving gifts, in my mind) so I would definitely recommend those. Oh, and the staff is generally very helpful and does NOT pressure you into buying, which I appreciate.

Very pretty and artsy things, delicate jewelry, nice gifts for Mum or Auntie or the like. Not filled with useful stuff, but perfect for the perfect gift. I get the feeling all the pieces are original.

I used them before for jewelry and watch repairs. Alpha Omega on JFK St in Harvard Square is also good but more expensive.