Faceting

Faceting Gems

Faceting Gems is a constant discovery and challenge for me. To find out the fine properties of every single mineral by doing intrigues me. Each one must be treated individually. The smooth polished facets reflect and break the incoming light. This light, often split in many colours, ignites the “inner fire” of the stone. Being able to unveil this fire is the reward for my love of minerals. In the blaze flares up the memory of my dream.

As a jewellery artist, I use cut and polished stones and gems, but also the raw ones. They are inspiration, enthusiasm and passion for me. Even as a child, I brought bags full of stones home, collected every stone in which I saw beauty. During my studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, I started to cut stones. Four years later, in 2011, the technique of faceting stones interested me. A crash course with a Viennese gemstone cutter Thomas Rausch has given me the necessary knowledge. Since then, I have been faceting for 3 years almost every day in the contemporary jewellery studio STOSSimHIMMEL, in Vienna’s first district. I cut stones on order and for my own needs. As a starting point, I use raw material but also already cut, older and broken stones. The more complicated the work is, the greater the challenge. A challenge for me is always the theme which I process in my collections and single pieces. But probably the major challenge in faceting Gems was to cut 780 different small precious stones which were set in a collection of historical jewelry of the famous family Esterhazy in Austria. That was a great challenge for me, because I didn’t know if it would work well. But it did and I was happy to make it. The stones had different sizes, from 2 millimeters to 2 centimeters. They were rock crystals, zirconia, synthetic rubies, synthetic emeralds and sapphires. Each gem had to be adapted for the setting in old historical cut. It took me almost a year to finish them.

Since then I regularly facet gems and also create beautiful cabochons and carved stones. Most of the gems I cut are from the quartz family (amethyst, citrine, rose quartz, rock crystal…), beryl (morganite, aquamarine, emerald), corundum (ruby, sapphire) and also many other minerals like synthetic gems or wine bottles. You can buy my own faceted gemstones in my shop here.