Keith is the most basic down-to-Earth guy I know. His jewelry designs are for ordinary people. He makes one exception. His earrings 90% of the time are for people who likely attend the opera or symphony. The earrings dangle, they swing, they sway. We imagine they are for a sophisticated, elegant crowd. I imagine it’s the symphony crowd we jewelers think shop at our stores. Admittedly, I think some of Keith’s earrings are some of the nicest earrings made anywhere. In spite of that I’ve still encouraged Keith over the years to try and tone it down, to try some simpler designs.
He struggles with my request. First because when he matches gems he moves heaven and Earth to achieve awesome cutting and perfect color match. I believe once he’s done that level of matching he resists putting an exceptional pair of gems into anything too simple. He’s looking for style…a sweep of gold with accent diamonds. His earrings look great. We find good homes for all of them. I still would like simpler, which is why when Keith showed me this pair called ‘First Star Over Swan Island’, I was impressed.
Keith pointed out both earrings have an Apollo’s harp lever back top. They both dangle and hold two superbly matching gems. The design is a star, a simple star in gold, and they look awesome. The color of gems, the freedom to move as your earrings swing, the Apollo’s harp lever back top pieces make this ‘First Star Over Swan Island’ the best dangles ever.
Tsavorite – Garden of Eden Green Garnet
Garden of Eden Green Garnet is found in east Africa on the border between Tanzania and Kenya. The gem is also called Tsavorite, named after the Tsavo National Park. It is a bright, lively green gem; a color so rich, emerald could only dream of being so good. There’s an intensity, a sharpness, a truth of color that speaks to any lover of green. From east Africa there are new gems and new discoveries. Tsavorite is a gem few have heard of, yet its beauty is something to behold. The green is crisp, bright, and lush. The green is the color of Eden.
Tsavorite Is Found in Only One Place on Earth –
East Africa
We’ve gone to east Africa and to the world’s only green garnet mines. It’s a small geographic area just north of Mt. Kilimanjaro, on the border between Tanzania and Kenya. Mt. Kilimanjaro is Africa’s tallest mountain at 19,000+ feet, snow capped with a glacier, remarkably, just a few hundred miles from the equator. Tsavorite is much rarer than emerald. It’s much clearer than emerald and sells for much less than emerald.
About the Trade Wind Collection:
Where does inspiration come from? Where do the creative sparks for design begin? For Cross’ new Trade Wind Jewelry Collection, we find ourselves drawn into the story of Captain John Henry Drew, from Gardiner, Maine. Born in 1834, he grew up the son of a Ship’s Carver, and went to sea at the age of 15, eventually becoming Captain of a series of clipper ships, and traveling from New York to China and back home, when that voyage took more than seventeen months.
Instead of carving or knotting or other hobbies that were characteristic of sailors, this mostly self-educated man read books, memorized details from newspapers, and wrote about his journey—his literal and his inner journey. His hand-written and personally illustrated journals tell us of his longing for Maine, for his family, and for “making something of himself”. He is very much like you and me, and it makes his story that much more compelling. He savors apples from home, as tasting better than apples from anywhere else. He imagines the scene he might see looking in the window at home, where his family sits, and he chastises himself for not getting more done at home when he was there.
The jewelry in our Trade Wind Collection is made by his great-great-great grandson, Keith. This young man went to sea as well, at age 18. As part of his service to the US Navy, his travels took him to many of the same places his great-great-great grandfather’s clipper ships visited. Keith also had a hobby unconventional for sailors— he had a fascination for gems and he studied gemology. He studied so that when his service was completed, he could become a jeweler. As Keith traveled the world, he collected exquisite gems, and after leaving the service and returning home, he mastered the art of fine jewelry making.
It is now decades later. We met Keith for the first time in March, 2014. We were impressed with his jewelry, and as we talked further, discovered he had a clipper ship sea captain ancestor and became intrigued with the parallels of his journey in life with that of his sea captain forebear.
The parallels in the two stories are expressed in the jewelry itself—the exotic colors, the flow of the designs, the attention to detail which is something passed down in this family—whether it is to protect the ship, its cargo and its crew, or to create a design that will last and protect its valuable gems, giving the wearer the same pleasure we experience when a ship at full sail goes by. You can’t help but stop and exclaim, “Isn’t that beautiful?”
We were hooked by this story, and by the jewelry. We think you will be too. In fact, we’re posting pages from Captain Drew’s journals from the Voyage of the Franklin in 1868. Take a few minutes to join in the journey, and think of those you love most, and rejoice if they are right there with you.
Read the Captain’s
Clipper Ship Journal Entries
Read Keith’s Gem Expedition Dispatches
