Tucson or bust … for two weeks every year, in late January and early February,  Tucson becomes the number one playground for the world of international gem and mineral trading.  The “Gem Show” sounds like a single site, but the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase happens all across Tucson at more than 40 sites.  This year I traveled to Tucson to explore the offerings of some of the finest stonecutters and gem dealers in the world.  Among my favorites was the exhibit hall featuring the stonecutters from the Idar-Oberstein region of Germany.  Here gemstones come to life carved in the images of flowers, animals, abstract art – almost anything one can imagine.  The beauty of the gemstones and artistry of the cutters meld and inspire a myriad of ideas about jewelry design. Watch for Paula’s new creations later this year!

 

As well as attending the stone shows, I visited the JCK design jewelry show.  Here I was able to see the work of new and upcoming jewelry designers and well as visit with a few of my favorite designers who we represent at Jewels That Dance.  Keep an eye out for the new work of Alishan, Barbara Heinrich and Todd Reed next time you visit the store..         Carol

 

“I’m a green girl,” says award- winning jewelry designer Paula Dawkins. Her 2015 collection unveiled this month is all about color – voluptuous gemstones in vivid colors taking center stage. Paula was inspired by nature to create this year’s designs.

She looked to the brilliance of the mountains that surround us, with Carolina blue skies, ruby red sunsets and sparkling lakes and rivers.

“Color rocks my world,” she says, so this year’s collection is appropriately named A Tribute to Color.

The new 2015 collection includes multicolor sapphires, fire opals and tourmaline that run the whole spectrum of color from red velvet to golden yellow and tangerine orange. “Citrine, garnet, amethyst and peridot remind me of rich colors from the earth.”

Paula fell in love with the gemstone cabochon (or ‘cab’ as she calls it). It’s color reminded her of an experience backpacking here in western North Carolina. “I was walking across a shallow creek and looked up through the trees at the dappled sunlight dancing on the leaves. The beautiful golden green and yellow – those are the colors of the stone I used in a ring.” The natural beauty of bittersweet and grapevines weaving up through those trees inspired the design she used to showcase the rich gemstone color.

We invite you to come and see the collection for yourself. If your travel plans don’t include Asheville right now, please call us and we will send you a catalog of the new designs. This is our first catalog and we would love to share it with you.