NATURE’S WONDERS

Working with loose gemstones plays a massive role of the jewellery design process at Anpé Atelier, especially when it comes to sourcing the perfect stone for a customized design. But what some people might not know is, gemstones don’t start out as the polished and sparkling things we see normally. In fact, they actually start out as a rock-like element that has to be meticulously assessed in order to be cut into the best shape and size in order to accentuate the stone’s fire and brilliance. Here are the main steps that a loose gemstone goes through:

Download and read the Gemstones: From Rough to Polished booklet here.

GEMSTONES IN THE ROUGH

Gemstones start off as rock-like elements, which makes the term “Sapphire in the rough,” a perfect description. Gemstones are formed underneath the earth’s surface predominantly through heating, cooling and high amounts of pressure. Diamonds, sapphires, rubies and other stones are found miles below the ground, and are pushed towards the surface through natural causes such as weathering, erosion and volcanic eruptions. It is in this way that humans are able create mines to dig up and find these beautiful stones.

Once the rough stones are found, they are sorted by shape and color and are ready to move on to the next step: pre-forming.

GEMSTONE PRE-FORMING

After the gemstones are found, they go through a process called pre-forming.

For lapidaries, otherwise known as gem cutters, making each gemstone is a work of art. There is a precise way of thinking for gem cutters to figure out the best way to accentuate a stone’s prominent features. Preforming is
a part of the faceting process. It is the first step, where the rough stone is ground by hand on a series of wheels or flat laps to get an overall shape.

POLISH AND FACET

After preforming, the gem goes through a process of faceting. This is where we start to get the finished product! Gem cutters begin to create the intricate edges and lines that you see on gemstones, which brings out an incredibly unique sparkle and glimmer. It is fantastic to see the stones go from the pre-forming process to polished and faceted, because they go from matte and 2 dimensional to a clear and colorful 3 dimensional beauty.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!

After the entire process is finished, we are left with these stunning stones that are ready to be made into a ring, necklace, bracelet or pair of earrings! Customers are always shocked when they learn about the journey a gemstone goes through to get to the polished product, which is why we thought it was important to provide an in-depth booklet for you to learn about the process.