Former Spokane resident Chinery Lutkin says she debuted her online-only jewelry store, Chinery Palmer Jewelers, at the beginning of the month at chinerypalmer.com.

A boutique retailer, Chinery Palmer, named after Lutkin’s grandmother, sells only engagement and cocktail rings, 14- and 18-carat luxury ring bands, and platinum ring bands, she says.

Lutkin says Chinery Palmer sources its rings from other high-end jewelers from across the country.

“We have 300-plus pieces that leave you with the ability to create your own ring,” Lutkin says.

Though she’s lived in Seattle for the last five years, Lutkin has deep ties to Spokane, having retired from a career in media marketing here. Lutkin moved to Spokane in the early ’90s so she and her husband could be closer to his family in Ritzville, she says.

“Spokane is not the same place now it was then,” she says. “When I moved there it was a struggle to find a bagel.”

But Lutkin believes the region has changed in many respects, including the growth of a higher-end clientele, and she feels confident there will be a strong customer base for her business.

Lutkin says the inspiration to start her own jewelry business stems in large part from her family history. Lutkin says she still has the 102-year-old wedding ring that belonged to her paternal grandmother, Annie Chinery Palmer. Her grandfather, Alfred Lutkin and Palmer emigrated to the U.S. after marrying in Norfolk, England in 1918.

“I’m a 69-year-old woman, and I have an idea,” she says. “When I think about my grandparents, they had an idea too.”

On their marriage certificate, then 30-year-old Alfred is identified as a “bachelor” and then 26-year old Annie Chinery was referred to as a “spinster,” Lutkin says.

“They had an idea to start a life together, moved to the U.S., and had a beautiful family,” she says.