Stone Jewelry

When I first started my jewelry business I did not design stone jewelry; I was 100% metal. I started in silver because it was very inexpensive. Stone jewelry would add more to my overhead, which was not a wise decision at the time.
In fact, my initial lines for the first ten years of my business were all metal; no stone jewelry at all. Then, somewhere along the way, I just fell in love with colored stones. I love the richness! There is just something about well-cut stones. Stone jewelry doesn’t even have to incorporate an expensive stone. One of my favorite stones is called the Smoky Quartz, and it is one of the most inexpensive stones. However, if you can put a good cut on a Smoky Quartz, you have enhanced your stone jewelry and you’ve taken its value up so much.
I talk a lot about texture and about richness, and for me there are very few pieces I do that don’t have some stone in them. The stones for my stone jewelry come from all over the world, however, there’s a stone called Fluorite that’s absolutely beautiful. It’s a semi-precious stone, not very expensive, and the largest cash of Fluorite is conveniently located in Indiana.
I would have a hard time seeing me doing collections without stone jewelry. Once I realized I didn’t have to cut my own stones, that I could design my own stones and have them cut for me, my world got bigger. My stone jewelry lines exploded and even for this year, my lines are all about stone color backed up by handcrafted metal.