Two Jewellers Who Make Everything by Hand and Let AI Help with the Words: Leto Lama and Sarah Kobak

A handmade piece of jewellery is the opposite of something a machine can produce. Yet an independent jeweller's week is not only spent at the bench. There are captions to write, product descriptions, stories for social media, messages to clients and, for bespoke work, drawings that help a client imagine a piece before it exists.

Two goldsmiths who make their work themselves show how AI fits into that week without touching the craft. One uses it widely around her studio and says it has given her more time to make. The other writes everything herself and uses AI only to rethink how she says it.

This article is for makers and craftspeople, and for anyone who sells something they make by hand. We look at what each of them hands to AI, and then, in a separate section, at what their craft still has to do.

Leto Lama: more time at the bench

Leto Lama makes jewellery under her own name in London. Her website says that every piece is created by hand by her in London, in 18-carat gold, and that she does not hand production to factories. Clients can see the work by appointment at a boutique in Chelsea. She also paints.

How she uses AI

According to an October 2025 article in JCK, a jewellery trade publication, she uses ChatGPT across several parts of her business, and AI more broadly in production:

• Captions. She used to spend a long time thinking up and rewording social media captions. Now AI turns her rough thoughts into polished versions straight away.
• Content ideas. When she is stuck for content, stories or short video ideas, ChatGPT gives her many suggestions. Not all of them are relevant, but they get her unstuck.
• Renders for bespoke clients. For custom orders she used to show clients only sketches and stone arrangements. Now she can show them more realistic renders quickly, which she says she would otherwise have had to hire a professional to produce. JCK does not say which AI tool she uses for this.
• Gold calculations. She works directly with metal and recycles gold, and uses AI to help with the calculations needed to reach the purity she wants.

What it changed

According to JCK, she says AI gives her more time for the parts of the work she cares about, creativity and production, and that by taking other tasks off her hands it has let her make a lot more jewellery.

Sarah Kobak: AI as a writing partner, not a writer

Sarah Kobak is a goldsmith in the Netherlands. According to her website, she designs and makes handmade jewellery herself. She opened her own studio in Zaandam in 2007. In 2021 she moved with her family to the Achterhoek region, and her studio is now in Beltrum, where clients visit by appointment. She also sells through an online shop.

How she uses AI

According to JCK:

• Her words first. She drafts every text herself, and only then hands it to AI. She compares the process to doodling.
• Finding the right words. When she cannot find the right way to phrase a social media post or describe a situation, AI helps her bridge the gap, and often suggests phrasings that had not occurred to her.
• Telling the story. She has always loved writing, and uses AI to rethink how she describes things and how she pulls readers into her stories.

Why it matters to her

She describes herself as best at making jewellery, but she also loves connecting with her followers and clients, and she loves how writing can create a connection between people. In the jewellery business especially, she told JCK, connecting is key.

What the craft gave them that AI could not

This section is our analysis, not a claim made by either jeweller.

• The work itself. Both make every piece by hand. AI helps with words, visuals and numbers, but it does not make the jewellery.
• Knowing what they want to say. Kobak writes first and edits with AI; Lama starts from what she already has in mind. In both cases the idea comes from the maker.
• Judging the output. Lama notes that not every AI suggestion is relevant. Choosing what to keep is the maker's judgment.
• Technical knowledge. A render or a gold calculation is only useful to someone who knows how the piece will actually be made and can check the result.

The two approaches side by side:

	Leto Lama	Sarah Kobak
Base	London, United Kingdom	Beltrum, Netherlands
Work	Handmade 18-carat gold jewellery	Handmade jewellery
Main AI tool	ChatGPT	AI tools (not named in the source)
What AI handles	Captions, content ideas (ChatGPT); bespoke renders, gold purity calculations (AI)	Rewording texts she has already written
What stays human	Design, making every piece, final choices	Writing the first draft, making every piece
Reported result	More time for creativity and production; more jewellery made	New ways of phrasing her stories

What you can copy

These are our suggestions, drawn from the two stories.

1. Keep AI away from the craft. Use it for the words and admin around your work, not the work itself.
2. Start from your own words. Write what you mean first, then use AI to find a better way to say it.
3. Use it to get unstuck. Ask for many ideas and keep only the few that fit.
4. Help clients picture custom work. Quick visuals can make bespoke conversations easier, as long as they show what you can actually make.
5. Check every number. Use AI for calculations only if you can verify the result yourself.

Notes on the sources

The facts about how both jewellers use AI come from an article by Brittany Siminitz in JCK, published on October 13, 2025. The details of their studios, locations and how they make their work come from their own websites. Lama's website states that she makes every piece herself and does not use factories; Kobak's website describes her work in the first person and lists no other makers, though it does not state that she works entirely alone. JCK names ChatGPT for Lama's captions and content ideas but does not say which AI tool she uses for renders and gold calculations, and it does not name the AI tool Kobak uses. Neither source gives revenue or sales figures.

Sources

• Here's How Jewelers Are Using AI Right Now, Brittany Siminitz, JCK, October 13, 2025
• About and Ethics & Materials, Leto Lama
• Over Sarah and Atelier, Sarah Kobak (in Dutch)