Happy Stories From our customers

A highly elaborate diamond and ruby necklace shown by Nirav Modi at the 2016 Paris Biennale des Antiquaires.

Indian jewelry continues its global focus with amazing jewelers hailing from the country and creating stunning pieces like the one shown above.

Not only did the creator (Nirav Modi, a third-generation diamantaire) produce this stunning piece but he is the proprietary owner of several diamond cuts. That’s impressive!

According to Forbes:

Since opening his first store in India in 2014, Modi has become known for extravagant diamond jewels and four innovative proprietary diamond cuts: Jasmine, Endless, Ainra, and Mughal, all of which are evident in both his high-jewelry and standard collections.

It’s great Modi is getting the global attention he deserves for such fine and groundbreaking work!

The “necklaces” are tiny: beads of animal teeth, shells, and ivory no more than a centimeter long.

Isn’t it an amazing feeling to know that jewelry has been worn throughout the history of humankind? Just like us, they felt compelled to adorn (though jewelry was also likely to be worn to protect and ward off evil).

While there has been much debate regarding the authenticity of these jewelry fragments, proof is now positive: Neanderthals did create jewelry.

Now, a study uses a new method that relies on ancient proteins to identify and directly date Neandertal bone fragments from Grotte du Renne and finds that the connection between the archaic humans and the artifacts is real. Ross Macphee, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who has worked with ancient proteins in other studies, calls it “a landmark study” in the burgeoning field of paleoproteomics. And others say it shores up the picture of Neandertals as smart, symbolic humans. [Source: Science Magazine]

If you’re looking for jewelry from the Neanderthal period, we’d love to custom design it for you…but it’s a little too late!

Take heed! Most of us are deeply ingrained with old wives tales when it comes to the healing of freshly pierced ears…and guess what?

We’re wrong.

That’s right. The whole hydrogen peroxide and/or rubbing alcohol combo? Not the way to go. And who would know better professional Berkeley-based body piercer Kerry?

For my high school shop teacher and his wife! He taught me to weld and work in metal, use a lathe and work in wood, work in plastics and to be creative in many many ways. Thanks Walt!

Of the myriad of ways gems and jewelry has been used throughout history, many overlook a long line of painters who in a need to capture just the right shade of a color, actually ground gems and used them in their work.

Take the bold and vivacious blue from lapis, a gem with ancient, colorful roots. According to Forbes:

“…the stone was so revered that it went beyond the realm of jewelry. ‘I love that lapis was grounded into pigment to make paint, and that the most important masters of the Renaissance used it in their works,’ said Mish Tworkowski, the founder and designer of Mish New York.”

Cast your eyes on Pietro Perugino’s “Delivery of the Keys” (1482). An unmistakable shade of blue, wouldn’t you agree?