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If you’re on our newsletter, you’ll know I call some of the emails I send you 'love letters'. B., one of our earliest clients for custom gold jewelry, sends me long, eloquent love letters back. In it, she expresses her love not only for the jewelry, but also for the journey behind each piece.
Spiritual leader, poet and peace activist Thich Nhat Hahn explains how the entire cosmos comes together to bring a sheet of paper into being. In the same way, ethical jewelry isn’t just a fair wage for the goldsmith. It’s all the human lives and natural processes that together call our jewelry into being.
B. seems to sense how the small changes we make in our supply chain - the formal word for all the people involved in the materials and making of our jewelry - help form jewelry that’s of a special kind of beauty. The beauty that people and phenomena involved have been happy to give rise to.
How did your journey with Gardens of the Sun begin?
I found Gardens of the Sun through Instagram in the beginning of 2016. I was navigating hashtags for tourmaline and came acrossa beautiful Gardens of the Sun bezel set watermelon slice necklace in sterling silver. Unfortunately, this one of a kind necklace was no longer available, but I joined the email list and kept my eye on the site and Instagram for any new products.
I was initially attracted to the one-of-a-kind gemstones and unique jewelry designs. Gardens of the Sun’s jewelry became meaningful to me because it represented beauty, artistry, strength, empowerment, positivity, trust, and intelligence.
B.’s first discovery of us! A throwback all the way from 2015!
While B's tourmaline of choice are nestled safely in her jewelry box, we have more bicolor tourmaline on hand. Head on over to our Custom Gold Tourmaline Ringto create your own ethical gold tourmaline ring,
What was your first purchase from Gardens of the sun?
In 2016 I ordered a build-your-own ring for a blue-green geometric sapphire slice with banded colors. I selected a unique, irregular rectangular shape sapphire, set in a rose gold, with a comfortable low-profile bezel and half-round band.
While Meri and I were discussing the sapphire ring, I mentioned other gemstones and colors that I liked, and she sent me photos of her collection that weren’t on the website.
For each gemstone Meri shared with me, I had detailed questions! Meri was so patient while we emailed back and forth. This was in the early years when Meri was working both a full-time job in addition to running Gardens of the Sun, and the experience felt very special and personal.
She became familiar with my preferences in gemstones, jewelry design, and quality standards. I ended up purchasing another custom 2-stone tourmaline ring with a vibrant pink emerald-cut tourmaline next to an oval indicolite tourmaline.
I was impressed with the unwrapping experience and workmanship of the jewelry, which is very important to me. I recalled that when I received the first rings, they weren’t a perfect fit, and shipping back for resizing to Indonesia with full insurance was costly. Meri went above and beyond, she came up with a way for me to ship the rings to a jeweler she knew in the U.S. that could resize them.
From this first experience, I knew I could trust the Gardens of the Sun team for outstanding customer service. Over the years, Meri and everyone on the team have proven to be generous, thoughtful, and kindhearted in their words and actions.
What are your favorite gemstones?
I favor gemstones that are durable and come in a variety of colors, multi-colors and exhibit color-shifting properties. I find them so mesmerizing. My favorite stone is sapphire because it comes in every color of the rainbow and has a durable Mohs hardness of 9. Tourmalines and spinels are also stones that I prefer. I feel comfortable that these sturdy gemstones will withstand everyday wear.
I have a weakness for the purple, pink, and blue colors, and also like to collect some of the rare gemstone jewelry with grandidierite, hauyne, and kornerupine! My favorite Gardens of the Sun jewelry is a custom oval bicolor purple/pink sapphire rose gold ring. Meri got the stone in Bangkok, and I requested that the sapphire be showcased in an elevated and open bezel setting, and this request turned into the Embrace collection.
A detailed watercolor painting of B.’s ring by artist Jessie Kuruc.
This ring is everything that I love in a ring - the sapphire gemstone, my favorite bicolors with color shifting from purple to pink to peach, the rose gold, the elevated and open bezel setting, the flawless workmanship, the comfortable half-round band, the precision cuts that enhances the sparkles, the durability, and the uniqueness.
Mermaid shades decorate a limited selection of silver Kornerupine Mermaid Rings, and vibrant blue hauyne are nestled snuggley in these recycled silver Blue Hauyne Hidden Gems Earrings.
Everyone on our team has their own memories with B. Everyone - from the customer service team who receives her loving emails, to the photographers who take pictures of the custom jewelry we make her, to the packing team who wraps her orders and the gifts she gets her loved ones - knows her. They also know to sneak in some little extras for this lady. A little note, a small souvenir from the gold miners, a mulberry paper flower after we found out she collects them.
To Tessa, who leads our customer service team, one instance stood out during a sale. The customer service team immediately zeroed in on a ring they thought would be perfect for B. “You know how some rings just seem to belong to someone, even when it’s not a custom piece? This ring had her name all over it. It was exactly the kind of ring she loves, and we were rooting for her to adopt it, haha.” The team ended up cheering when B.’s name popped up. “It just felt like a really good match.”
That really sums up how I feel about B. We’re just a really good match.
Your stories matter to us and your emails make our day. What have been some of your favorite moments with us? Why not drop us a line 😉