T Lee Gold

Gemstone Roundtable Recap

Cambi — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:44:21 +0000

Watch this three minute video recapping the Gemstone Roundtable process and what you might expect if you attend one. The next one is Tatyana Vyalkin May 10-11,2012. RSVP ASAP if you would like to reserve a seat either night. Also, dont forget you earn a $100.00 T-Buck if you bring a new friend. (make sure they are lots of fun as well!)

Draw a Line in the Sand

T Lee — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:55:51 +0000

Trashy Beach

I’ve been playing a lot of disc golf this summer and while the courses are usually wooded and scenic, many are totally trashed with garbage. A large share of the mess is plastic and it chafes me bad. I can use the distraction of the garbage as an excuse as to why my long drives stink and my putting is lame but this morning I got a chance to put my money where my mouth was. I bought a membership with The Surfrider Foundation and joined its Rise Above Plastics campaign. Their goal is to raise awareness of the dangers of plastic pollution and focus on finding solutions. Read the facts on their website-the destructive impact of plastic on our oceans and lakes is staggering.

Draw a Line in the Sand

Back to those smart geeks that wrote the ‘how to be’ compendium of business brilliance; REWORK. I’m so inspired by this book that I have been seeing the wisdom in its philosophies everywhere I look. The Surfrider Foundation could be their poster child. They know why they do what they do, they believe in something and have the backbone to broadcast their beliefs. I would hope I could rise to this example with my own custom jewelry design business. When I travel to buy rough in remote areas from the miners themselves, I support the actual individuals who are mining the stones. I want to be known for selling the most ethically sourced stones, I want to be able to tell my clients where their gemstones came from and how they traveled to them and what it took to get it here. ‘Thick Value’…more on that later cuz I’m reading another amazing book I cant wait to tell you about.

Buying Rough in Kenya

Change It Up

T Lee — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:33:56 +0000

Can’t seem to get off the soul-search train these days and I find I am still ruminating on why I do what I do. I’ve always loved to use my hands and make things no matter the material but I rarely make the same thing twice. Variations on a theme but never a duplicate. Last night I woke up wondering how I could ever inspire anyone when I am in a constant state of change. Change for a reason, for no reason, by choice and by circumstance-not all fun but still all good. Could that be what I have to offer; a guide through change with no fear?

So how that relates to my custom jewelry - I realized so much of what I do is help people with change.

I found myself thinking about a design appointment I had earlier in the week. They were a newly engaged young couple and they brought an entire handful of gold rings that their family members had gathered to help them make their own wedding jewelry. She had lost her mom the year earlier and the thought of taking apart her mothers engagment ring to make one for herself was a difficult change. She was nearly in tears. I started to sketch as she flipped through and commented on images in my portfolio and within the hour, her mood lifted from anxiety to exhileration. I came up with a handful of design possibilities that were reminiscent of her moms ring but brought in the future and her own preferences. When I hit the one that spoke to her, we all knew it. Her face lit up and she said “I love it” What a thrill for us both! Her fiance was quiet but clearly relieved that she was finally at ease.

I thrive on the process of solving one-of-a-kind design challenges with my clients and I think now I know this is because I love the process of change. The custom jewelry process is always about change and the opportunity to witness an idea as it becomes something special. I feel so fortunate to be a part of that amazing process with so many. Wow, thanks…now I might cry.

A few interesting reads: Embracing Change by Glenn Rothman and The Art of Embracing Change by Nadia Ballas-Ruta

A few trivial facts (subject to change): My favorite poet is Rumi, my favorite gemstone is color change garnet

37 Signals and 18 Holes or Throw Less at the Problem

T Lee — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 19:45:00 +0000

I am a specialist. I do several limited edition collections a year but my primary passion and main focus is designing custom jewelry with custom faceted gemstones. I do four Gemstone Roundtables each year There are times I wonder if I should broaden my scope and start to carry things that other fine jewelers fill their case with…watches, crystal, pens, clocks, chocolates ?? Throw more out there in an effort to broaden my customer appeal. Its tempting.

Trillion Congo Tourmaline cut by Roger Dery of Spectral Gems

That was before I was enlightened by the book ReWork written by the erudite duo of Fried and Heinemeier Hansson of 37 Signals. In the chapter titled ‘Throw Less at the Problem’ I had an epiphany that my slant toward being a specialist was exactly what I should be doing. Do less, cut back, sort out what truly matters and then go deep. I took it to heart and took off to Vail for the weekend. Whew, I was so close to ordering the designer chocolates.

: A Great Course in Vail

Fun Defined

T Lee — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:17:33 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what makes me keep doing the work that I do. I know, that you know, that I am passionate about the sustainability of gemstone mining and the ethics of the jewelry industry because we talk about it all the time together. To share something with a like-minded person….that is F U N!

We found one!

But when I was in Africa last February, I learned that passion can be shared without sharing a single word. Sifting through the gravel at a color change garnet mine, seven of us on hands and knees all felt the passion. The heartpounding gemlust, the pure unadulterated JOY that comes with hunting and finding, total and complete F U N!

Sharing some joy with some kid in Vail

To do what we do for the thrill of it, for how great it makes us feel, how satisfied it leaves us and that we shared it with another-I think this is why I make custom jewelry.

Neema from Tanzania

T Lee — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:27:09 +0000

I firmly believe that the universe gives you what you need if you can be awake enough to recognize it. On the first leg of the flight to Amsterdam, I was hyper-awake with trip adrenaline in abundance but after getting back on a full plane that felt like it had shrunk in size-I was not looking forward to the middle seat for 9 hours.

A small young woman was already seated near the window as Steve and I got situated. Being a compulsive knitter; especially when I’m a bit agitated, I got my project out and tried to calm down. She immediately took notice and we began to chat. Her name was Neema and she was heading back to her home in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania after her semiannual visit to her fiancé in Iowa. Her education was clear and her poise lovely as she spoke of her country. Her scientist father worked in academia and now heads up research to help African farmers yield better results on their crop production. She has traveled and lived other places in the world but has come back to Tanzania to help improve her country. She works for The Investment Climate Facility for Africa and we wasted no time in turning our conversation to her homeland of Tanzania. She was passionate as she told me of her work with the ICF and her efforts to improve Africa’s investment climate and make it a better place to do business. She expressed frustration at the corruption that creates barriers for legitimate business activity and the work that the ICF is doing to help improve the business climate. She sighed and said she would change three things if she was in power. “Africans do not understand the queue…they all just crowd and push and do not stand in lines. And the bathrooms…oooh…they think they are dirty places so no one will clean them” She smiled hugely at this and Im sure she saw the change in my expression as we both saw in our minds eye, what I would soon experience. “And, the corruption” her face went somber and serious “It is an uphill battle. I don’t know what is to be done” She explained that corruption is something that all Africans live with and expect and changing these attitudes and behaviors seems like impossibility. We talked of my interest in sustainability in the gemstone industry and also shared the excitement of the anticipation of the mine visits we had planned. We spoke about how opportunity can be created for mining communities and how small business owners like myself can make the entire supply chain much more transparent. We speculated and agreed that uninterrupted gemstone revenue has funded violence that comes from longstanding civil conflicts and that better transparency of this supply chain would help. I expressed my concern that this has been an unpopular topic with industry leaders but consumer pressure to expose the truth may lead to a better and more responsible way to source gems. If I can be a part of this in any small way I would do so. Vigorous but exhausting conversation, she said “I will send you an article on African gold mining” and with that put her blanket over her head and went to sleep.

I was now too mentally wired to even knit and was trapped between two sleeping people. Desperate for distraction, I pulled a magazine left behind by the last traveler out of the seat pocket. I randomly opened it and the first thing my eyes fell on was a book review of “The New Capitalist Manifesto” by Imair Haque. Described as a way to build a disruptively better business, I was intrigued. He describes ‘thin value’ profit business as one that leaves society worse or at least no better off versus ‘thick value’ business that intertwines profit with people, building solid social and economic foundations where all stakeholders can benefit. This better business model that will thrive in the 21^st century, he has named “constructive capitalists” and that they will be defined by some or all of the following.

* Renew resources instead of exploiting them
* Be more responsive to supply and demand by allocating resources democratically
* Use “philosophies” that create value rather than “strategies” that extract value
* Creating new arenas of competition rather than dominating existing ones
* Seeking payoffs that are meaningful in human terms, not just financial ones

I was inspired, felt affirmed in the reasons I was taking this trip and finally fell asleep content to identify with his description of the ‘constructive capitalist’ and looking forward to living up to the title.

Day 1 – Arusha, Tanzania

T Lee — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:24:53 +0000

Our brokers office was not far from our hotel, so the next morning we decided to walk to his office in downtown. People selling things on every corner and making their best attempt to sell things to us as we walked single file snaking through the traffic. It was pretty obvious at that point that we would not be able to ‘blend in’ but never the less, the people didn’t pay us much mind. After coming into town in complete darkness, the vivid colors of the market place and the peoples’ dress really interested me….intense spectrums of color every direction you would look. Arusha is a busy city that has much activity and is centrally located to many mine sites so a lot of variety shows up. We sat in our brokers office for hours looking at many varieties of garnet, zircon, spinel, and a very nice parcel of chrome tourmaline. I felt extremely fortunate to have Peter, Roger and Steve with us since they had brought some equipment to test the roughs to determine if they were what our broker thought they were using a Chelsea filter and other simple tools. I scored this 4.85 gram piece of chrome tourmaline that was so clean the light just glowed out of it. It inspired me so much, I did a quick sketch of a pendant using it.

Into Africa

T Lee — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:36:08 +0000

After many months of planning, researching, mailing documents and asking many questions I was finally ready to begin packing for my whirlwind tour of East Africa. My guide, Roger Dery of Spectral Gems, had recommended that we pack light enough to take a carry on only since he has had issues with losing luggage in the past. I had already spent two weeks laying out all the necessary things (protein bars, water filter, bug spray) and then spent another week reducing the pile by 50 % (no to the mosquito net, the third pair of shoes and six skeins of yarn) My traveling companion from Minneapolis was Steve Wallner, a gem faceter. We had met earlier to book our flights together and from that brief introduction, I knew his great sense of humor was going to be a real asset on this trip. We flew into the busy Amsterdam airport and met up with the others that were joining us. Peter Torraca is a graduate gemologist and faceter from NY, Kim and Frank Yanke own a retail jewelry store in Michigan and Roger that had organized the group. He has been to the African continent many times sourcing the rough that he cuts and has many established relationships that would allow us to buy from the best and safest sources. I knew his detailed itineraries and deep experience gave our group a distinct advantage. After brief introductions, we boarded the plane for a 9 hour flight to Arusha, Tanzania.

What makes worth?

T Lee — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 08:16:30 +0000

There are those that believe that the human struggle and sacrifice of the miners is what adds to the great value of the gem, those that give their flesh for the flash. They sell us that it is worth that much more because of that journey. Yes, I saw it, they do give what they have in brute force but that it is not what makes the beauty or the rarity or the sacred vibrancy that brings us to the gems….the miners, the brokers, the cutters, the designers, the customers who love the jewelry…we are all a part of the whole. I will not believe that any one of us in that circle is not connected with the other. We all contribute and benefit to the process. I have seen the faces of each and they share a passion. The miners dig with the hope to find, the brokers bring them to the audience that waits for them, the cutters take what is given and shape it to a new life, the designers build the symbols that mean everything and nothing. And last but really first- the customer. These are the people who give what they work so very hard to earn to be a part of the circle. No part is more or less than the other and each is a part of the whole that brings these things to our eyes.

Stuck as a rock in a hard place

T Lee — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:57:03 +0000

A beautiful peice of Spessartite Garnet as seen by the light of the Indian Ocean

Ive been back from Africa for a month, and today I am going to finally begin to post about my experiences.

I have been stuck, and after much thought I realized what has stymied me.

My intent of this trip was not only to shorten the supply chain of colored gemstones by sourcing the rough myself, but also to satisfy my personal hearts desire.

I wanted to talk to the miners about their work-are they profiting fairly and are they treated well?

I wanted to witness the journey of the rough gemstone as it emerged from the earth all the way to its new home in my custom jewelry.

I wanted to contribute to this transparency and know that I have not contributed to the illegal, immoral, and horrific activity that can be funded by the revenues from these rare resources.

I still want all these things, but this African adventure has brought up many more questions than were answered. I was feeling uneasy about sharing my experiences and opinions; I felt I did not have all the answers; I got stuck.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the value of my experience can’t be based on simply learning facts about the sustainability of gem mining and fair trade wages alone. I hope that it can be the catalyst for deeper questions regarding the ethics of the gemstone industry. To tickle us into wanting to know more about where the beauty comes from and how it gets to us.

I will begin a day by day summary that will include: an interview with Shamsa Diwani-the secretary general of the Tanzania Women Miners Association, a visit to an artist’s colony that employs some of Tanzania’s most unemployable, and a full detail of time I spent in the bush at the mine sites.