Passage Des Perles

My favorite gemstone dealer now offering a large selection of loose cultured freshwater pearls in a wide range of different natural colors, shapes and sizes. There is no minimum order and it is possible to request to drill the pearls any way you want - from half drill, to fully drilled or double drilled, to diagonally drilled or un-drilled.

2010 UK Jewellery Awards - Call for Entries

The 2010 UK Jewellery Awards have been revamped and are now open for entries with even more categories for you to enter.

This year the UK Jewellery Awards have had a facelift and promised to be more transparent  with a whole new judging process and brand new categories.

I hope that people who understand at least something about web will be employed, to avoid embracement of awarding horrific web sites like it happens in 2008 and 2007.


To find out more about entering and complete your submission online by the April 15 deadline, visit www.ukjewelleryawards.co.uk

Designer ring of the day - Lady Lavender by David Wein

Sapphire, Amethyst,  Diamond and three tones of lavendar Sapphire ... all natural stones, nearly every astrological gemstone. Gemologists  and  jewellery  connoisseurs  would love this ring that combines many of the worlds coloured gemstones  in an elegant and bold one-of-a-kind design.

Available @ David Wein's Fine Jewelry Store

British Pearls Boutique Wins An Award

BoBijou, a leading online retailer of Orchira pearl jewellery, announces receipt of the prestigious Outstanding Achievement Interactive Media Award in the “Retail” category for their retail website, which is dedicated to the highest quality standards in the industry and offers luxurious and unique Orchira branded pearl jewellery made exclusively with fine cultured pearls and natural gemstones.

Bobijou.com was given a complete makeover, enhancing the look and functionality of the website while streamlining the integration of the proprietary e-commerce platform, enabling to personalize and enhance the online shopping experience.  Exclusively dedicated to the retail of Orchira branded pearl jewellery in the United Kingdom, 2010 plans include expansion of the pearl jewellery brand portfolio and further international expansion.

The IMA judges evaluate websites based on five criteria: Design, Content, Feature Functionality, Usability and Standards Compliance and Bobijou.com excelled in all areas of the international competition's judging criteria, earning an overall score of 478 out of 500. It is an extremely challenging award to win and represents a very high standard of planning, execution and overall professionalism.

Jennifer Aniston fresh start with Ross, the Dino Geek

What every Rachel Green needs is the clever gift for her geeky friend. Ensuring smooth transition from the friendship zone into the boyfriend heaven. Can it be secured with roughly 3 million year-old dinosaur bone?


It's sure can. Introducing dinosaur bone cufflinks a must have to impress uptight folks at any palaeontologist convention.

Both David Wein and David Yurman options look nice, but it seems that David Yurman missed the dinosaur extinction event amongst fancy banker's bonuses and is charging Tyrannosaurus prices.

Gemstone dealer turned to jewellery design, and why not?

I am buying all kinds of colour gemstones. All day long. All year around. No weekends. Because my job is beautiful and I love it. I couldn’t care less about our jewellery design department, because half of the folks there don't know anything about gems and another half think too much.

But I get worried when my gemstone suppliers turn into jewellery manufacturing. I was worried when I saw Multicolour Gems opened it's fine jewellery store. I thought yeah, right, now where would I get my alexandrites and spinels? Turns out - now they understand my needs better, since they have the same headache as me - keeping goldsmiths and jewellery designs in bay.

And now my other favourite gemstone trader, Multicolour.com announced that they are planning to open a jewellery store. Oh, well. Every gemstone dealer thinks that jewellery is made of gold, when sometimes it's made of wood. Although I must admit, their first jewellery collection is very nice.
Organic contemporary ornaments. Good colour mix and interesting composition. Oh well, maybe now they will understand my needs better too?

Orchira pearl necklaces design thoughts

Orchira Pearl Necklace

Orchira has perfected a method of pearl stringing that has increased its restringing guarantee to eight years. Claimed method, patent pending by the way, involves some kind of sophisticated process of hand-knotting pearls on quadruple stands of Japanese silk.

My guess - it's just a very labour intensive method, which perhaps is suitable for fine pearl jewellery, such as classic pearls necklaces and designer pearl lariats. Not sure if it will be useful for commercial pearls or fashion jewellery. Although, I do like BoBijou pearl necklace designs. Very trendy.

You got pearls

Abalone Pearl by Multicolour.com

I bought this rare and 100% natural Abalone beauty from Multicolour.com for an upcoming pearl jewellery design competition. Imagine the thrill of finding one of these?

The Abalone pearl, with its true scarcity and impending extinction will prove itself the ultimate prize for the knowledgeable and informed collector. Unlike the Oriental Natural, the Akoya pearl, and the South Sea and Tahitian cultured pearls, abalone pearls are not primarily judged by their roundness. Also, unlike other types of pearls, Abalone pearls are not subjected to any type of processing, such as bleaching or buffing. The pearls essentially look the way they look coming directly from the Abalone shell.

Hot September - Sapphire Bespoke Rings

Sapphire jewellery is always hot in September, but this time Fameo latest bespoke designs features hypnotic blue sapphire fine cabochon rings. Very stylish, and nice gemstones too.

Hypnotic Pool - Blue sapphire and white diamond gold ring

One blue sapphire glows around an orbit of light. Sixteen white diamonds adorn a circle of white gold in this beautifully designed fine cabochon sapphire ring.

David Wein Sapphire Ring

Orbit Light - Blue sapphire and white diamond gold ring.

David Wein Sapphire Ring

One blue sapphire glows around an orbit of light. Sixteen white diamonds adorn a circle of white gold in this beautifully designed fine cabochon sapphire ring.
One blue sapphire glows around an orbit of light. Sixteen white diamonds adorn a circle of white gold in this beautifully designed ring.

Beautiful Frog

Various creatures have been part of Fameo’s artistic repertoire since 2004 - the signature line of small animals, designed with colour graded cabochon gemstones to achieve realistic and yet artistic expression of natural beauty. A variety of inventive jewel animals, using non-conventional creatures, such as frogs, gecko’s and snails, accenting on and exploiting the natural features of the animals. Here is the latest Frog Pendant. So cute!