Trend: Bi-Color Sapphires
Trend: Bi-Color Sapphires
A few weeks ago I attended the AGTA Spectrum Awards™ press day to see all the winning jewelry and gemstone pieces and the other items entered into the competition. When I saw that Lindsay Jane's bi-color sapphire, diamond and platinum ring won the WJA Gem DIVATM Award and Classical Manufacturing Honors I knew I had to spread the gospel of bi-color sapphires.
Bi-color sapphires (aka parti sapphires or parti-color sapphires) are essentially sapphires with color-zoning - uneven distribution of color in the stone. Unlike the color zoning in a single color sapphire, bi-color sapphires are the result of the zoning of two colors in a single stone which is a result of changing conditions and trace elements during the formation of the sapphire in the earth. You may have encountered color-zoning in a standard blue sapphire. Typically it will look like varying thickness of blue and colorless lines or occasionally in a hexagonal shape.
I first encountered these stones through lapidary artist Jean-Noel Soni (@topnotchfaceting) a couple years ago. Jean loved embracing the duality of colors in the African material he was cutting. Most commonly sapphires are heated to remove the color zoning and/or cut in a manner that hides the zoning in a bi-color sapphire to combine the colors into a balanced tone (think mixing a blue and yellow stone into a balanced green), he was cutting these stones to display the 2 distinct body colors from the rough. At the time this approach to bi-color sapphires was new to me.
Over the past year I have seen many jewelry designers and gemstone dealers embrace distinctly bi-color sapphires. While bi-color tourmalines have been celebrated for their multi-colored looks for many years, the bi-color sapphire counterparts are just starting to get attention.
I asked gemstone dealer Caleb B. Quashen (@CalebBQuashen)and designer Lindsay Jane (@LindsayJDesigns)to comment on the bi-color sapphires they both work with. Learn more below!
Caleb Quashen
Q: When did you first see the bicolor faceted sapphires enter the market?
Caleb: Long before I entered the industry BUT with heavy variance between geographical origin. Additionally, for many years and current, sapphires are often heated to remove or minimize the 'zones' of color which create the multi-color aesthetic in the stone. For those that are unaware, Parti Sapphire is the trade term for sapphires exhibiting multiple colors. Heated stones can still show multiple colors but it is a shame that for a long time sapphires have been heated in an attempt to remove zones of color. Sapphires that show multiple colors are so unique and striking with natural beauty.
Q: What excites you about bi-color sapphires?
Caleb: They are truly unlike any other known gemstone, generally far more transparent on price, allow a true relationship between the stone and the wearer, they're a conversation piece, very durable and really will never get old to look at in your jewelry. We have been very fortunate with our connections so ours are always from traceable origins, often unheated and ethically sourced.
Q: What's the locality of the bi-color sapphires you sell?
Caleb: Our primary sourcing comes from various Montana USA deposits, Ilakaka Madagascar, Gombe State Nigeria and Queensland Gemfields Australia. We occasionally get stones from Bangkaja Thailand, Batakundi/Kashmiri Pakistan, Kenya and Burma.
Top: A handful of bi-color sapphires from Madagascar. Bottom: A 4.21 ct unheated Madagascar bi-color sapphire. Photos courtesy of Caleb B. Quashen
A parcel of rosecut bi-color sapphires from Caleb B. Quashen. Photo courtesy of Caleb B. Quashen.
Lindsay Jane
Q: What draws you to design with bi-color sapphires?
Lindsay: The gemologist in me, combined with my love for art, color & design, make bi-colored sapphires an absolute dream to work with. Thinking through the incredible conditions the gemstone had to go through regarding the trace elements, and the earth's heating process, working together to create a unique, multi-colored stone, is fascinating and inspiring to me.
Q: How do you describe these stones to your clients?
Lindsay: First of all, for me, a stone has to be absolutely gorgeous, regardless of its coloring. It has to really catch my eye for me to get excited about it. But when that does happen, and I can't get it out of my head, that's when my excitement comes through when I show it to clients, or send photos and videos.
I recently came across a 6+ carat green-blue bi-color sapphire. Immediately, multiple people I showed it to were interested. It was just such a stunning, unique stone, and because I was so inspired by it, it was very fun and easy to show and talk about. I sold it quickly and had the opportunity to create a ring with it.
Bi-Color Sapphires from Caleb's Inventory
Q: If you were to pick a piece of art or music to describe this material, what would you use?
Caleb: Music- Three songs come to mind and I have no idea why.
Cherry Bomb by John Mellencamp
A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours by Morrisey
As The Rush Comes by Motorcycle (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
Watch our sapphire videos with these songs playing and I think you'll feel the vibe.
Q: How do you see bi-color sapphires fitting into the jewelry landscape?
Caleb: Perfectly really! Jewelry should symbolize individuality and uniqueness however I think the industry was stuck in a generic, cookie cutter, conventional lull for some time. I think it is apparent that alternative pieces and 'unorthodox' stones are all the rave right now, rightfully so.
Lindsay Jane Designs's 2018 Spectrum Award™ winning bi-color sapphire, diamond and platinum ring. Photo courtesy of AGTA
(Left) The 6.8 carat bi-color sapphire featured in Lindsay Jane's Spectrum Award™ winning design. Photo courtesy of Lindsay Jane (Right) The finished sapphire ring. Photo by Diamondoodles.
Q: How do bi-color sapphires inspire your design process?
Lindsay: Taking something that this earth so wonderfully created and turning it into a wearable piece of art is my passion, but it's also my greatest trial. I want to do the gemstone justice, to show it off, while not taking away from its unique beauty. So I attempt to create that balance - design elements that compliment and showcase the gem, but not at all detract from it.
For the ring I mentioned, the sapphire had a lovely geometric shape. So I complimented it with trapezoidal French cut diamonds. I wanted a piece that was as exceptional as the stone, but didn't challenge its exquisiteness.
Q: Do you have a dream cut for a stone of this material?
Lindsay: It might be fun to work with a round bi-color!
Q: When did you first discover bi-color sapphires? Did they appeal to you immediately?
Lindsay: You know, that's a good question! I suppose I've seen them emerge quite recently, as more unique gemstones and jewelry styles have made their way into the mainstream in recent years. I was always pretty infatuated with bi-color tourmaline, due to a watermelon tourmaline pendant I inventoried while working at a fine jewelry store many years ago. Later, I was completely taken by a large pastel teal & soft pink tourmaline ring that received a Spectrum Award (stone cut by Clay Zava, ring designed & made by Coffin & Trout, for Somewhere in the Rainbow). I just love anything unique and gorgeous! Whether it's a trapiche, a multi-colored tourmaline or zoisite, or a bi-color sapphire! So yes, they did appeal to me right off the bat!
Le Papillon earrings by Lindsay Jane Designs featuring bi-color zoisite, diamonds, paraiba tourmalines and opals. Photo courtesy of Lindsay Jane Designs
Need to See More Bi-Color Sapphires?
scroll down to see more suppliers and designers working with bi-color sapphires
(Left) A 3.19 ct bi-color sapphire from Australia. Photo and gemstone from Perpetuum Jewels. (Right) ALMA, a 2.6 ct unheated parti-color sapphire and diamond ring from Australian designer Cushla Whiting.
Left-Right: 4 Claw Elevate Ring featuring Australian sapphire from Pieces of Eight, an elongated east-west sapphire ring from designer Krista McRae Jewellery, a bi-color and blue sapphire ring from designer Fraser Hamilton Jewelry, and a mixed gold and Australian sapphire ring from designer Cinnamon Lee .
(L-R) A 2.60 carat Nigerian sapphire faceted by Brume Jeroh @bayoto, 1 carat bi-color sapphire from Australian lapidary Pebblesprout, one of Jean-Noel Soni's (@TopNotchFaceting) bi-color sapphire pieces cut way back.
Header photo courtesy of Perpetuum Jewels. Written by Hannah Becker, Diamondoodles, 2018. Photography by Hannah Becker unless otherwise stated.