Sherris Cottier Shank has always been fascinated by moving water, particularly waterfalls and streams. She spent years studying and photographing water in natural settings before attempting to portray it in gemstone. No cutter alive can transform stone into water like Shank. Her most distinctive carvings are abstractions of flowing currents carved in aquamarine, sometimes...
World’s largest aquamarine carving, the 10.363-carat Dom Pedro, goes on display Thursday at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. It’s no surprise to find the carver chosen to sculpt this 14-inch obelisk was Bernd Munsteiner. Those familiar with Munsteiner’s work will recognize the distinctive reverse cuts, patterns of slashes that bring out...
Whether you're in the mood for avant garde design, rare gemstone carvings, or historical treasures, here are some temporary exhibits of gems and jewelry worth a trip this year.
Jewelry lovers – and makers without wholesale I.D.s who want gems and beads – can now get free admission to the popular Intergem shows. Founded four decades ago, International Gem & Jewelry Shows were one of the first to sell commercial jewelry to the public, with the broad selection and prices (from $5 to...
I admit it. I’m obsessed with jewelry boxes. This is partly because my own jewelry is overflowing my current jewelry box, stashed in various velvet boxes and satin bags and getting harder and harder to find. But I also love the idea of beautiful containers for beautiful ornaments. In a perfect world, I would...
Andrea Rosenfeld designs what she calls “healing jewelry,” using stones known for their healing powers and the technique of Reiki. She started designing jewelry fairly recently but brings a wealth of experience and skills to her creations – loom weaving, silk screening, photography, garment design, drawing, painting, ceramics, and wood-working – not to mention...
Forget the mislabeled citrine and the cheap, irradiated blues. Here's a new look at an old gem that's making a comeback, in all its glorious and often-overlooked variations.
In Ancient Rome and Greece, gold jewelry and engraved gems were valued far more than other works of art. Getty antiquities curator Kenneth Lapatin reveals the fascinating ancient reality behind his museum's wearable treasures.
It’s the kind of jewelry you might find in a Moroccan street market or on a well-dressed belly dancer: colorful, exotic layers that clink and jangle as the wearer moves. Xavier Guerrand-Hermès, a director of the Paris-based fashion empire, spent three decades collecting North African jewelry and photography, and the creme of his collection...
Known as the "king" of gems in Ancient Rome, sapphire is still most coveted in deep blue - like the stunning parure Christie's Dubai will auction off next month. But sapphire comes in a rainbow of colors and, increasingly, creative jewelers are getting their hands on those.
