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Antoinette Corbishley
8th July 2010 15:25

Other uses for semi-precious stones

 

It is easy to forget that semi-precious gem stones aren't used solely as jewellery decoration but also have an important part in our everyday lives, being versatile as well as useful materials. We probably don't appreciate how many of these materials we come into contact with every day, be it as stairs, table tops, tiles, farceurs for buildings, floors, vases etc.

I started thinking about this when Harriet and I met a very interesting craftsman/designer in stonemasonry and cabinet making a few days ago, that works in rare stones - marbles, slate and semi-precious gem stones.

The man we met was James Elliott: http://www.jameselliott.co.uk. Among the many semi-precious stones that James uses, are Amethyst, Lapis, rock crystal and varieties of quartz and Agate.

James Elliot at work

In fact, James was telling us he had made an Amethyst dining table and one of his next projects is a rock crystal coffee table. Both materials would give an amazing surface in which to display things or eat off of, can you imagine the colours and sparkle from the light passing through the purple of the Amethyst, and the brilliance of the shine from the rock crystal!

Below are a few examples of how we at HKJD have used Amethyst and Rock Crystal:

White gold and amethyst engagement ring

Kite shaped amethyst 18ct white gold engagement ring which was from our ready to wear collection.

purple label jewellery purple label jewellery purple label jewellery

Another amazing but huge project James has recently finished after 3 years of labour was a bathroom made solely of Blue Lace Agate!

Blue Lace Agate

Mined in the south of Namibia, rough Blue Lace Agate is found in various grades and sizes. It is a very scarce semi-precious stone and the bands of white and pale blue give a very decorative finish. You may recognise it more in the form of a smooth polished bead or cabochon cut stone, something like these from our Purple Label collection:

It might be worth next time you are out and about to take time to look around you and see how semi-precious stone has been used where you are, and check out James' website to view some of the wonderful examples of the stone bathrooms!

Antoinette Corbishley
 

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