My criteria for selecting gemstones

Okurado jewelry uses many different types of gemstones besides diamonds, rubies, and sapphires.

We buy gemstones from many different places.　Sometimes we get them from Japanese suppliers, and often we buy them at overseas trade fairs.

At overseas trade fairs, many suppliers gather from all over the world, and a huge variety of gemstones are gathered together.

How do you select stones at such places? My criterion for selecting stones is – in the end, it is the stone that I think is beautiful.　I spend a lot of time searching for such stones.　I am honestly not interested in the latest fad, or the stone that just looks good, or the stone that is just new.　Is it my eye for beauty? I rely on my eyesight or my ability to discern what is beautiful. I train myself by touching as many things as possible every day.

I am rather happy to find stones that are beautiful but are not well known for their color or hue and introduce them to customers as high-end jewelry through design and production that brings out the best of the stone.　(Although sometimes I have a hard time selling them because they are too maniacal.)

There is a stone called “spinel” that is often used in Okurado’s one-of-a-kind pieces.　Its refractive index is the second highest after ruby, sapphire, and alexandrite. (Basically, the higher the refractive index, the more light is reflected, leading to brilliance.)　) The Mohs hardness, a measure of a stone’s hardness, is also hard enough for gem quality.

The stone was thought to be a ruby for a long time because of the close proximity of its place of origin.

About 10 years ago, at an overseas exhibition, a stone shining in very beautiful lustrous pastel colors caught my eye.　The colors varied from red, pink, violet, and orange-pink, all highly saturated and vivid.　Excited, I purchased a few pieces, envisioning how I would eventually design them.　That was when I started using spinel.　

I knew the name “spinel” at the time, of course, but when I saw the actual piece, I was strongly attracted by the beauty of its brilliance and vivid colors that could not be found in any other gemstone.

Today, spinel has become increasingly popular around the world, with prices eight to ten times what they were ten years ago, and in some cases even more. (I really wish I had believed in myself when I first saw it and purchased more.)

Last year “spinel” became the new August birthstone in Japan, and its popularity in Japan is becoming more established.

Round shaped pink spinel with tremendous brilliance. This color and brilliance cannot be found in any other stone.

The triangular gray spinel (which in real life is an attractive color between gray and violet) was combined with a triangular diamond.　To complement the color, I took the time to find and combine antique cut diamonds of the same size.

About two or three years ago, a type of spinel called “cobalt spinel,” which contains cobalt, also began to appear.　A small percentage (not all) of this type emits a brilliant fluorescent blue color that has never been seen in any other stone before.

Cobalt spinel as brilliant as painter Yves Klein’s Klein blue.　You will not find sapphires in this hue.

Since then, we have found several other beautiful stones besides this spinel and made them into jewelry for Okurado.　

And even now, we go to fairs for overseas buyers three to five times a year. We search everywhere to find and purchase beautiful stones that are still unknown, and we make jewelry with a sense of luxury by enhancing the charm of the gemstone to the maximum.

The purchasing and searching process differs depending on the stone, and the communication with suppliers, price negotiations, and other aspects of stone purchasing are very deep, so I would like to introduce these stories another time.

Hitoshi Okura

OKURADO