What is Tourmaline?

Jene Despain Jewelry

Tourmaline comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. It's a crystalline boron silicate mineral and it's classified as a semi-precious stone. So when Jené Despain wraps these colorful beauties in 14K gold fill and sterling silver, it's for good reason.  

The most common tourmaline color is black but as you can see from Jené's jewels, these beauties range from pink to green to clear to everything in between. Tourmaline was first discovered in Brazil in the late 1500's but it wasn't until the 1980's and 90's when these gems gained popularity. In 1892 tourmaline was discovered in California where the majority of these pink hued gemstones were exported to China. Tourmaline is heavily mined today in Madagascar, Afghanistan, Brazil and California.

Jené Despain look book images 

All of the tourmaline in Jené Despain's Minor Planets jewelry collection is sustainability sourced in the US and purchased directly from the family that mines the gems.

Shop Minor Planets here.  

Jene Despain Minor Planets Jewelry

 

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