In 1967, in northern Tanzania, a member of the Maasai tribe encountered bright blue crystals protruding from the ground. Experts suspected that they had discovered a new deposit of sapphires. However, after careful examination of the samples, it turns out that they were a previously unknown mineral with a colour similar to sapphire, but characterized by a high coefficient of pleochroism (the phenomenon of colour change, which is dependent on the polarization of light passing through the crystal), which in this case changed the blue to a violet colour.
It is the amazing phenomenon of pleochroism that makes tanzanite a unique stone, giving the jewellerry a mysterious and fairy-tale feeling.
To take full advantage of this stone’s potential, I have designed a larkspur flower necklace. It is a plant that has either blue or purple petals, depending on the area.
I started the process with a drawing in which the central flower is surrounded by leaf-shaped links, sprinkled with stones in the centre. For this project, tanzanite was purchased from a mine located in the legendary Merelani Hills, where the mineral was first discovered. The raw material then travelled a long way- to Jaipur, India, which is today's capital of coloured stone cutters. There, the raw minerals were transformed into diamond-shaped gems and sent to my studio.
The next step was to choose a set of diamonds and set all the stones in yellow gold. The entire process from the drawing to the finished product took several weeks, but the end result exceeded the customer's expectations.
