Gemstones

My early fascination with crystals and gems.

As early as I can remember, my parents rented a house on Lake Michigan in a little town called Petoskey. We would walk the beaches and look for fossil coral which is the Michigan state stone called Petoskey stone. My father and I would sit for hours with a bucket of water and wet dry sandpaper polishing those stones… I was so excited about my finds that I asked for, and received a rock tumbler on my 6^th birthday… That led to a membership in the Holland Michigan Gem and mineral society where my father was the second youngest person in the room most days. Geology camp at Northern Michigan University in the 8^th grade. In High school, I sold wire wrapped crystals and earrings at historical reenactments and sat for many hours next to a colonial silversmith. In the 11^th Grade, an amazing High school art teacher names Karl Rowe suggested that I actually skip becoming a doctor or an engineer or something sensible and go to art school. Within a few weeks of my first metalsmithing class at The University of Michigan, my T.A. walked up behind me and casually remarked… “Looks like you found what you’re going to do for the rest of your life.” David Cruz, I’m not sure whether to kick you or thank you. But here I am.

Proper cutting angles and the best of what the earth has to offer.

20+ years of looking at gemstones every day, and I've found that most of the gems in the world are cut and polished by people that don’t like their jobs, or are judged based on speed and not quality of their work. The time needed to get a stone to be symmetrical and well-polished is far more than double the time it takes to make something shiny at a glance. Arm’s length quality is fine for a fun piece, but for your most important, significant jewelry… The stuff that says “I do,” let me help you pick stones that are more than just good. I have personal relationships with a number of award-winning gem cutters and love providing lovingly cut fine gems.