Turquoise encounter with fate

My fateful encounter with turquoise was a necklace worn by my high school friend.

In 1987, when I was in my second year of high school, a friend who returned from a summer school in California wore a turquoise necklace. The moment I saw the necklace, I was shocked by its color and coolness. I think I was already feeling something like fate at this time. I think I will be involved in some form of `turquoise` in my future life.

I heard, It's a Hishi Necklace made by a tribe called Santo Domingo, an American Indian, and I searched for something similar. However, it was rare in Japan.

After that, study abroad in the United States. The first Indian jewelry I bought was a necklace. I bought it at an airport in Chicago because I wanted to have a bear claw.

I bought a car in less than a year after studying abroad and started to move to various places in earnest.
In such a situation, when I saw the Indian accessories that used to be souvenirs in the gallery, I was shocked. There was no “real” Indian jewelry in Japan in the 1970s when there was no internet yet. I felt a strong feeling in those works, and the style was solid.

Sometimes you die! Turquoise Mine

Current (2020) turquoise market is only about 3% of the real natural market. Some mines have already closed, and the story of turquoise becoming an investment has spread because of its rarity. Really good stones are not on the market and are often kept by collectors and shops.

Iran stone is said to have the highest quality worldwide. However, new information does not come in, and it hardly appears on the market. It can be taken in Egypt and Kazakhstan, but it is the same. Most of the Iranian stones on the market were imported by 1970.

But I've always been looking for real turquoise. In the days when there was no SNS, I had no choice but to search for information myself. Then, when I met a certain woman, I decided to climb a mine. It was when I was in my thirties.

At first, I went around various mountains on tours and learned that because of this stone quality, such stones can be collected. After many trips, miners started to invite me to go with them if I like them so much.

I actually go to Nevada many times and collect it myself.

They carry sandwiches, sake, pickaxes, etc. in a car. From there, walk to the actual mining site and dig by hand. Search for them while climbing up the wall, with intervals of about 20 meters each. Then, it may hit the pulse of turquoise. It's really mysterious when you find the turquoise of nature, which is created by weathering and oxidizing minerals over hundreds and thousands of years.

However, I leave the big pulse to the miner, and I search for a visible stone. Then, a lump called `nugget` may appear. Nuggets grow under the pressure of rocks, so they often become hard stones. It is said that the harder the turquoise, the higher the quality.

I'm often asked how I see the truth of turquoise, but I know what kind of stone is produced in each mountain in each area. This color is strange even though it is said to be a stone from this mountain, it is impossible to enter the matrix in this mountain, or it is because you are actually climbing the mine and seeing the real thing.

Because of this, things that look unnatural or discolored over the years, or things that are unnaturally too beautiful, are sensible. And I never buy such suspicious stones. Therefore, we do not deliver fake products to customers.

And it's also great that the shops and buyers we work with are only reliable people. Since they deal with them, I can buy with confidence and can sell.

Open my own store `Skystone` in Karuizawa

After that, I gathered information at a real American Indian jewelry store, buying the works of famous artists and showing me the turquoise that the owner has treasures. .. Anyway, I wanted to collect Indian jewelry and I wanted to know more. Around that time I also met a number of famous artists. I think I was meeting great artists right now.

After returning to Japan, I continued to learn Indian jewelery and turquoise while working in an accessory shop, and continued my relationship with the locals. From around 1990, I started to make accessories by myself, and I was happy to sell my work.

Then, he became independent as `Skystone` in 1999. Only passion at that time. I had a debt, but I was hoping that if this didn't work, I could do another job.

It opened in March, but I can't forget, the first month I sold only 35,000 yen. I couldn't help but I went out of the showcase during Golden Week that year to appeal to the people visiting Karuizawa, and the items in the case were sold out. At that time, it was a good time with some people spending quite a lot of money. It was really lucky that I could buy new accessories from that sales, sell them, and grow into the current store.

Of course, I made a big mistake. I bought it at a high price but the quality is poor, or the price drops. On the contrary, the cheaply procured items were 10 times or 100 times higher in price, and sometimes they were profitable. That's how I learned the aesthetics.

By the way, the precious antique works that I purchased at the time, which are now valuable, are displayed in the gallery of my Sky Sky Stone store in Karuizawa. I just liked it and collected it, but when I realized it, it seems that he was one of the best collectors in the world.

For the first time in Japan, I was a judge at a fair called `Santa Fe Indian Market`. With this as a trigger, the following year, we will have a booth with a niece of Charles Loroma, a talk show, and an event to identify the turquoise we brought. Since then, she has opened a store every year at this event, and has deepened exchanges with local artists and shops.

The charm and value of turquoise

Turquoise was first used by the Indians as an ornament. Many turquoises have already been excavated from their tombs around 1300. It seems that they wore them as `guard stones`, but they probably had the image that they were born from nature and were full of power.

Then, immigrants deprived them of their land and forced them into deserts and rocks where no plants could grow. However, Because it is a country of immigrants, it is easy to jump to material things. I think the fact that turquoise has boomed as an investment target and its value has increased has also been good for the Indians. This is because the culture of Indians and Indian jewelery have spread and have been recognized as art.

But the essential attraction is that light blue. I have no honest answer as to why I am so attracted to turquoise. But I'm sure I've come to this day feeling the same light blue color as the Indians.

Difference between “good stone” and “bad stone”

Turquoise is a good stone and a bad stone. This is a question of quality, which is different from authenticity.

A good stone is that it has light and that the `matrix` mesh lines are evenly distributed. And three of the colors. The most famous mine that produces these stones is the US number eight, Lone Mountain, and the lander blue mountains. And the name of the mountain has become a stone brand.

Number eights are all light blue. If the line is thick, it has many impurities and is easily cracked, and it becomes soft. Therefore, it is said that the one with a thin mesh pattern and the so-called `Spider Web` is valuable.

Lone Mountain's characteristic is that it is often collected in a lump form (nugget form). The stone called `Golden Web`, in which black streaks enter the deep blue stones and yellow-brown lines are mixed here and there, is considered to be the highest grade.
I liked it because hard and sticky stones are hard to break.

Lander blue is a light blue colored black stone coated with a matrix when cut. The contrast between deep blue and jet black is beautiful, and when it comes to the finest stones, the whole looks like purple.

My favorite stone is the number eight. There are perfect colors and patterns. However, due to its high hardness, it sometimes snaps when shocked.

I have experienced it several times and finally arrived at Lone Mountain. It is tenacious and the color does not change. There is also hardness. The stones are intertwined and hard to break.

Number eight as a collection. Is it something like Lone Mountain that you can wear?

However, there are some bad stones produced in these mountains. It's due to the turquoise mechanism.

For example, a stone that is thick or hollow in a vein that becomes a turquoise rough due to crustal deformation and is not compressed. They are neither hard nor colored. And unfortunately, 80% of the turquoises on the market have artificial colours, or resin impregnated to increase hardness, inside the cavities inside such stones.

Mckey Plato, a modern sublimation of a classic motif.

After studying abroad in Ohio, USA, from a university, I touched real Indian jewelry and learned aesthetics and knowledge while visiting cities such as New York and Washington to Arizona. Now you'll meet up with some of the best Indian jewelry artists.

Among them, Mackey Platero, who is described as Silversmith = silversmith and has delicate and skillful workmanship, was one of the first writers I imported from America. Encounter with him in my life. It had a big impact.

I met McKee many times, and I was really impressed to see how it was done.
, He gave me a motif, and I was very in touch with him.The name `Sky Hawk` (heavenly hawk) is also an Indian name he gave. It can be said that he is my teacher.

My origin, Charles Loroma

Charles Loroma, who is said to have sublimated Indian jewelery into the realm of art, was a big catalyst for me as a jewelery designer, and Charles Loroma died in 1992. Unfortunately, I couldn't meet him three years after I moved to America, but I could learn more about Loroma through the works left behind and by interacting with the people around him.

Lee Yaji who brought Indian jewelery to art

Lee Yaji, known for his elaborate and intricate design, is one of the most memorable artists I've met. The idea of ​​bringing each line to life is my own production. Also had a great influence. One of the geniuses of the modern Indian jewelry world.

In recognition of his achievements, he was the only American Indian to hold a show at the Smithsonian Institution, which is said to have boosted the value of Indian jewelery, even at Sotheby's auctions. The work is being treated.

Focus on original jewelry

As I met Indian artists in the United States, gained interaction and earned the trust of them, I started to think that I would like to make them myself. As I received it, I remembered it little by little.

Jewelry is meant to make people happy, so I can't get rid of it. In fact, even though I'm sorry, I'm gradually improving it and selling it.

For the jewelry I make, I use only the stones I admit to be the best at that time, and I put my soul in. The basic concept is `jewelry that can be worn 24 hours a day, 365 days a year`. The origin of Kodera's original jewelry is that you can design the stones you want to wear yourself with your favorite design.

While I've seen various works, I make each good essence with my own originality. Even if it is a very nice stone and good design, it bends when hit with a bon If it does, it's a shame as a ring.

So I made the base part thicker, and cut the inside of the ring to reduce contact points. This makes it easier to put it on every day. I spend time on those parts. Where an average craftsman can make three, I can make only one, but it makes jewelry that can be worn from morning till night.

Jewelry wears little scratches and is gradually completed. I call it `aging.` It was made by me at the time of purchase, but after 10 years of use, it will increase in blackness, scratches, and the overall tone will decrease. I am making it while calculating it.

For example, the base behind the ring and the shank part will be scraped on the finger side after 10 years of wear, so silver that is harder than the sterling silver of the rings commonly used by old Indians was used. The frame that holds the stone, called the `bezel`, is meant to protect the stone and is made as soft as possible. When used for a long time, it wraps stones and is hard to crack and can be used for a long time.

My work is known as `Yas Bezel`. I cut a silver rod into a triangle and put a slit in it to make a space so that it will not be crushed when it hits something. Another feature is that it seems to float when used for many years.

Turquoise jewelry in the coming age

Indian jewelery itself will never fade. It will remain and be inherited as a culture.

But recently, I'm attracted to the power of the stone called turquoise. Certainly, Indian jewelry designs have evolved. However, there is a part to choose fashions to combine, and it will float in modern fashions. But I cannot deny it.

Therefore, I would like to combine turquoise, which was used by the American people, with suits and as men's jewelry to decorate the men's hands nicely.

Jewelry is meant to be nicely dressed and nicely dressed. I want to bring turquoise to the next stage.

Encountering good turquoise is a lifelong relationship

I have been a dealer of Japanese antique Indian jewelry, a turquoise artist, interacting with not only North American but also global artists, and I have been able to convey the charm of turquoise.

In such a situation, turquoise met not only selling jewelry but also how customers wear it and how jewelry changes. I started to think of `relationship`. Our policy is to keep our after-sales follow-up, even if the customers we have sold so far visit us again every time, or if they become scratched or cracked.

My jewelry is made with my soul in mind, the stones are perfect, I use the best I can. And after 5-10 years, I'm getting better. I would like to make jewelry that will not be broken.

If the size of the ring doesn't fit, I'll deal with it, and I'll take care of the broken stones for a lifetime. I'm the craftsman for after-maintenance such as repairing the broken parts. That's exactly what you can do, and then you can restore turquoise to your loved one again.

By using it for many years, you can see the goodness of turquoise. If you sell it, it's yours, you can use it freely. I would love to see it.

I think that purchasing at `Skystone` is the `bond` that begins the lifelong relationship between me and our customers. Please enjoy the turquoise jewelry that I carefully selected with peace of mind.