For Richard Moser, it must have been difficult to resist his father’s overpowering enthusiasm for opals, especially living near the Andamooka opal mines of Australia for 14 years.
Bruno Moser taught his son about opals, the most radiant and luminescent stones in the world, and how to carve them. “The opal is the nicest stone to cut. When carving, we dig for the best color, that’s why each piece is so different. With each piece we look for the best color, or the essence of the gemstone,” Richard said.
“The main thing we’re doing is to promote a natural feeling. We combine what we do with the qualities of the material. In Germany, for instance, they use hard angular cuts; nature’s just not that way. Our pieces are fluid and moving,” said Richard.
At the age of six, Richard began the carving trade his father had started four years previous. The father and son partnership started shortly after Richard finished college. Today “Sculpture You Can Wear” is the main selling point for their carved jewelry. The Mosers are known not only for their small pieces of jewelry, but also their large sculpted pieces of art. A similar philosophy is shared amongst the two disciplines, with an emphasis on bringing out the inherent qualities of the material being carved.
When the Mosers came to Thailand as part of this year’s Jewel Fest 4, they brought with them a variety of jewelry pieces which demonstrated quality material, expert craftsmanship and versatility in design. “A lot of our pieces try to be versatile, we don’t want to restrict ourselves to one side [of the stone]. Freeform carving allows us to carve on both sides, this 2-for-1 is better for the customer,” Richard said.
The shop of ten people is trying to bring “Sculpture You Can Wear” to the Thai market. Japan is their strongest market with a 60 percent share in sales — Switzerland and the United States are other strong markets as well. “We’re trying to build up our name here in Thailand. If someone knows what they’re coming to see, they are less intimidated by the design.” Richard said.
Sales primarily are to private customers. Richard said some of their Japanese customers own as many as 10 of these pieces. As other Asian markets are explored, Richard sees the future of the jewelry business in working with top quality materials. Although opals are a commonly used, other gemstones such as aquamarine, sapphire, garnet, tourmaline, amethyst, citrine, and tanzanite are carved as well.
One aspect of the business that will remain the same is the method of carving. Richard believes in working around what nature incorporated into the stones and to accentuate those qualities with his carving. “We want to follow the material, to show its strength. It’s simplified, with the highest yield you get the nicest feeling because there’s no preconceived notions when carving the piece. This lets the viewer interpret the piece,” Richard said.
Large or small, wood or opal, be it bookends or brooches, the Moser’s carving methods bring out the beauty of the material. The gentle curves and smooth lines of the freeform carvings are captured in some of nature’s finest gemstones. “Sculpture You Can Wear” is a line of jewelry carved to optimize the beauty of the stone with a versatile design.
SPECIAL PROMOTION
Mariora Positions Itself to Expand into New Markets. p104
Established in 1975, Mariora Corporation Pty Ltd is one of Australia’s pre-eminent wholesale and retail specialist opal companies, Located in Surfers Paradise, Australia’s tourist capital on Queensland’s Gold Coast, Mariora specializes in natural solid Queensland boulder opals and black opals from middle to fine quality, collection gemstones and designer opal jewelry.
Mariora has a talented team of designers who create the Marioca Collection which has won five awards at the Australian Jewellery Design Awards, including the supreme award, and the Grand Prix Trophy in 1992. All Mariora designer jewellery is individually created using only the finest quality materials, I8K gold and platinum, complemented by fine quality diamonds.
Mariora has a wholesale and export office in Osaka, Japan with franchise arrangements for jewellery counters throughout Japan. Mariora also operates two retail outlets and a wholesale VIP showroom and design studio in Surfers Paradise.
Four of Mariora’s directors, including managing director Mario Antolovich, are graduates of the Gemological Institute of America.
Mariora Corporation Pty Ltd is THE ONLY company in Australia that produces and market unique designer jewellery under an exclusive brand name —MARIORA.
Main export markets include Japan and Southeast Asian countries with current expansion focused on the European market. In April, Mariora will be exhibiting in the prestigious Basel Switzerland Jewellery Fair. This will be the first time that Mariora has participated. The fine quality and unique designs of Mariora will be on display from April 18 to 25 in Hall No. 3-300, Booth No.424, Basel’96 World Watch, Clock&Jewellery Show. Mariora is located on 3290 Gold Coast Highway, Surfers Paradise, Queensland 4217 Australia; Tel.:61.7.55.381-211, Fax:61.7.55.389-392
Gemming Sieve Inspiration For New Saheed Designs p105
M.Saheed’s Vatti line of jewelry has evolved after three generations of making hand-crafted jewelry. Featuring woven strands of gold, the new line is easily distinguished from other designers.
The traditional Sri Lankan gemming-sieve served as an inspiration for Saheed Jewels’ Vatti line. In its original form, the gemming-sieve is woven into patterns from reeds used to sift through gem-bearing gravel.
Today, the gemming sieve is still an industry staple, but its pattern has taken on a new look woven in 18K gold. The Saheed designs are accented with Sri Lankan gemstones.
Designs and Their Creator Are Hardly Traditional p106-107
Sekikazu Nakakura is the type of jewelry designer who not only appreciates the quality and elegance of jewelry, but how it complements a woman’s beauty. His design policy “Touch Your Heartstrings Jewelry,” is based on his concept that “a lady wearing jewelry is art”.
At an early age Sekikazu worked in his parent’s jewelry retail shop in Okayama City, Japan, He continued to work in the family shop through college. After graduating from Kinki University in 1983. Sekikazu decided to attend the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in Los Angles. Nine years later he established Sekikazu Corporation.
Since his graduation from the GIA in 1984, Sekikazu has been designing jewelry. Sekikazu strives to create designs that will enhance a customer’s personality. In doing so, their reactions provide Sekikazu with inspiration which stimulates his creativity, he said.
He also creates watches with the same design concepts.
The Japanese market is a perfect match for Sekikazu, whose favorite gemstone is the pearl. He views pearls as the “most sophisticated and brightest gemstone in the world”
Fancy Colored Diamonds, By Harvey Harris, P. 108
With photographs by Tino Hammid
Fancoldi Registered Trust, Liechtenstein
Reviewed by Kenneth Scarratt
Over the past 25 years the popularity of fancy colored diamonds has increased to the point where they are amongst the most revered of gems. So revered, that for particular colors even hardened dealers are prepared to pay extraordinary prices.
Harvey Harris’s new book Fancy Colored Diamonds is the first popular book dedicated to these gems. It is a much needed book that is long overdue. Mr. Harris successfully strikes a balance between science and trade so well that he leaves the reader thirsting for more.
The preface is written by Francoise Curiel of Christies, a man who has had most of the world’s important colored diamonds through his hands, and the foreword is written by George Bosshart, one of the world’s foremost scientific experts on colored diamonds. To have managed to place the thoughts of these two fine gentlemen at the front of his book is a fine compliment to what is to follow. More, to have enlisted the photographic expertise of one of the world’s foremost gemstone photographers, Tino Hammid, leaves the reader in total admiration of this effort.
There is little doubt that this is one of the best illustrated books on any gemological topic ever produced, and the written content serves not only as a more than adequate introduction to colored diamond, but also gives to the subject an excitement level that is lacking in many other gemological texts.
The introduction opens with a description of the “sale of the century”, the $880,000 auction price paid for a 0.95 carat red diamond. The per carat price being equal to $926,315.78, Harris compares this with the highest per carat price ever paid for a ruby of $227,000. He then goes on to relate how these rare gems have come from obscurity in the 70’s to their present popularity level and outlines the purposes of the book “a connoisseurs guide to fancy colored diamonds, one that will give readers a thorough grounding in their unique aesthetics and equally unique market”.
To achieve the stated purpose of the book Harris outlines some interesting historic details of the DeBeers influence on the market, then writes on the investment potential of colored diamonds. He states, quite correctly, that “since the 1970’s, prices for the finest fancy colored diamonds have nearly always seemed outrageous in the context of the moment”. He then writes excellently on the history of diamond (although the reviewer might dispute his statement that the Hope Diamond is “the most famous diamond in the world”) and gently meshes this with related colored diamond information.
Harris then leads the reader into the “Potent Properties” of colored diamonds. In this section he sets out the scientific properties of colored diamonds within the context of the individual colors, and finishes up with a description of a few unique and unusual colors, and how the cutting of a diamond may help in bringing out the color.
Chapters on the treatment of colored diamonds and the evolution of imitations of diamond, and synthetic diamonds, lead into probably the most controversial area of the book. “Making the Grade” is a chapter devoted to fancy colored diamond reports, and the communication of color. Harris details the introduction of the grading of fancy colored diamonds by the GIA and the way that such grading influences the price paid by dealers. He compares the availability of masterstones for fancy colors with those in the D-J range of colorless diamonds, and laments the “fact” that there are not enough masterstones to properly reflect the range of color possibilities for fancy colors. To illustrate his point he reproduces two GIA reports on two different diamonds in which they are oth described as “Fancy Purplish-Pink”, he further reproduces a photograph of the two stones side-by-side in which the color of each appears remarkably different.
The book concludes with three chapters on Fancy Colored Diamonds in Jewelry, Fancy Colored Diamonds in Auction, and Fancy Colored Diamonds Through the Ages, all of which make interesting reading. Priced at $175 this book should be on the shelves of all those interested in colored diamonds. Whilst it should not be classed as a scientific treatise on the subject, it does afford the interested person, through excellent photography, historic and trading perspective, and general gemological information, with invaluable information concerning fancy colored diamonds.