Stunning radiant colours from fiery red and warm red-orange to natural greens and mellow yellows are some points of bright well dispersed colours that emanate from a gemstone whose simple name betrays the range of colour and uses that this gemstone family represent.

Spessartine, Almandine and Pyrope are garnets that will tend towards redder colouring, with fiery colours naturally from pyrope, exotic highlights of almandine and warmer tones from spessartine.

These groups share the same common cubic crystal and composition of the other garnets with their vibrant colouring coming from substitutions of metals such as magnesium, iron and manganese into their lattice crystal structure.

Green and yellow more softer and natural colours come from the softer grossular, uvarovite and andradite whose common crystal cubic structure substitutes the calcium element of the other varieties metals.

Garnet crystal’s are some of the wider spread of gemstones around the Earth, naturally forming under great heat and pressure where the presence of silicate rocks and the right conditions give rise to this large family of diverse gemstone.

Garnet and Culture

Being found around the world garnet has been an emblem of prestige in the ancient world and the modern.

Ancient Egyptian royalty wore encrusted red garnet crowns and headwear as symbols of regalia while the Mediterranean societies of Rome and Greece traded this gemstone across the world, sought after even then.

Though royal red and fiery pyrope is well established in the West as emblematising garnet, in Russia and the East some of the more stunning examples include andradite of which those exhibiting incredible natural green colours are most sought after – with care being taken when faceting to ensure the greater part of it’s naturally brilliant radiance is retained and reflected.

As with the other types the reflected colour of this variety is simply brilliant, comparing well to and above many other “precious” gemstones such as green emeralds. Radiant greens of faceted gems have oft been used in past Imperial Russian necklaces and fashion wear as every bit as beautiful and regal-ant as those of Ancient Egyptian Queens and Princesses.

YAN Fashion

Presently using deeper red types our designs serve as a foil for pure silver pendants and show off silver flower bouquets and spacing rings present in YAN design.

While contrasting strikingly against whiter and lighter coloured apparel our designs hold their own with richer coloured clothing.

Used in our present YAN designs garnet outwardly carries an air of beauty that is very present and noticeably more direct than some of our other types that make use of lighter gemstones.

Very suitable for making presence known either showing off against lighter coloured clothing or a layered approach with regal character and stunning beauty these designs are full of beautiful character in every occasion.

Matching to the rose coloured red present as some hues in garnet we have a beautiful pink rhodonite set that carries a slightly more pensive beauty to it’s character, the pink rhodonite lightening and reducing the deeper red of the main bead.

Our current store frontrunner is a set of dark green tinted nephrite and red-orange garnet bead with lots of presence and showing some of our best design to date. This set carries our red-orange garnets which though in the same family have a lighter tone balancing the deeper nephrite colours of the central beads and pendant respectively.

Fashion and Garnet

Rich in colour and lavish in heritage and style garnet is a gemstone greatly suited to dazzling display of beauty and loveliness.

Our designs are unique to YAN showing our designer’s selection of gemstones as careful as her attention to colour hues when painting, selected at great length to make works of art that show unique beauty present in her designs.

Outside of YAN fashion design garnet is much loved as a singular located faceted gemstone, choosing cuts which best display the fire of reds and flare of natural greens such as radiant, round, oval while more exotic pear and rounded triangle trillion shapes make use of the larger carat size of this radiant stone.

Popular singularly displayed inlaid in precious metal garnet is a popular stone for rings and earrings showing elegant beauty with an air of class and dignity coming from the rich colour.

Garnets of most modern necklaces and bracelets are often more elegant display of the beauty of a single faceted gemstone shown off by it’s precious metal surround and inlaid metalwork design. However traditional styles did project rich and regal colour across the entire piece by the use of many garnet stones faceted or otherwise laid onto delicate patterned chain.

Garnet as a glorious palette of colour in gemstone jewellery has been seen in history of fashion culture and continues to stun with modern finds of glorious radiant greens in recent Russian and African finds.

YAN Jewellery continues the use of colourful influences using garnet as a stylish and beautiful regal charactered gem contributing to the palette of our new international fashion designs.

The Gemstone

Amethyst known for it’s famed royal purple colour is a quartz crystal family member prized for it’s beautiful rich colouring. Seen as a symbol of affluence and prestige by ancient royalty, a protector of clear mindedness in ancient Greek culture and an aide to purity of purpose by the Church this is a gemstone that many ancient peoples believed carried an air of the spiritual and divine.

Displaying overall purple hue varying from lighter violet to deeper purple the most prized amethyst crystals are those known as “Deep Russian” or “Deep Siberian” stones – these gemstones have deep purple colouring with an additional blue hue and delicate secondary red reflections from their faceted faces.

Natural amethyst is very rarely so monotone in colour grading, most natural amethyst shows a colour zoning where the crystal ranges from transparent or lighter purple to the deeper purple colours it is famed for. Found around the world this quartz crystal member is excavated from typically small quarries where the best amethyst of a stable colour gamut and less evident colour grading is cut into fine gemstones to be mounted and displayed, other sources of Amethyst include crops of Amethyst found in South American geode deposits and open sources in North America.

As Amethyst can be sourced from around the world as opposed to being priced by carat as many other precious stones are the better amethyst examples are heavily graded according to their colour gamut and their colour zoning, the sought after stones will resemble the most desired Deep Russian Amethyst in that they display rich purple colouring with blue hue and no varied colour grading.

YAN Amethyst

The present examples of Amethyst in YAN Jewellery’s collection are beads of a deep purple colour, they are natural in origin showing crystalline faces within the crystal and other natural artefacts though the the purples are mesmerizing and well matched with the designs they are used within.

We present three examples of relevant designs broadly cover three colour ideas used in YAN jewellery.

In the first example the much lighter violet coloured amethyst supports the softly imbued purple colouring of the lavender quartz while with the addition of the blue lustre and grey base palette of the central moonstone pendant combining together to produce a colour gamut also within the range of the purple overall tone.

The first example though broadly lying in a single tone shows off the colourful natural style of YAN while subtly bound to a cohesive range of violet and purple colours.

Our beautiful second example shows the black filigree of rutilated quartz supporting the deeper colouring of our more typical purple crystals, in this design the central bead acts as a focal point set off by the transparent quartz surround while supported by the darker elements of embedded natural rutile inclusions ensuring that though the difference in tone across the design is striking it is also well supported.

A more typical fashion design is the use of various colours to convey beautiful image and grace, this colourful tourmaline bead necklace uses the natural colour of the tourmaline to embed the deeper colours of the crystal within it’s design while the silver leaf elements act to add the elegance and air that is so typical and so natural to the style.

YAN design in our few examples covers some of the striking design features that are so evident to her design from a single glance, we look forward to using more beautiful amethyst to enrich the palette of design in the future!

Fashion and YAN design.

Amethyst has become a go to crystal in the fashion world due to it’s beauty, evident use in matching with colour and upon it’s own striking colour hue, it’s reasonable cost even when faceted in large carat gem and it’s prevalence as a well known and much loved jewel as a gemstone, geode or as a crystal is even so much that some prefer amethyst to diamond or other precious stones.

Striking examples of faceted amethyst are popularly worn as metal chain pendant necklaces matched often to silver colours that accentuate the purple colour of the gem while inset earrings in silver surrounds matching the necklace produce greater effect when colour matched to clothing.

As these crystals are often found in larger carat sizes than many gems, novelty faceted stones such as heart, star and ring or even natural rough pieces set into metal fixtures are used to show off the beauty of the gem, amethyst by itself alone is often seen as beautiful enough to carry image and presence.

Queen Alexandra’s amethyst tiara is an example of a lavish setting of plush Russian deep purple gemstones gifted and set into a silver mantel showcasing the deep purple and supported by smaller surrounding semi precious stones.

From our own collection a lavish costume jewellery suggestion is layering gemstone jewellery to add colour and panache as beautiful as any English princess!

This above example showing our blue lustred grey moonstone with supporting peach pink cherry blossom and green strawberry quartz necklace and bracelet set.

Beaded amethyst necklaces carry all the colour of faceted gemstones while at the same time more harmoniously blending and contrasting with supporting gemstone types and colours, our current range of necklaces show that while the amethysts themselves are just as beautiful a gemstone by themselves they are also a capable colour and design element of our designers palette, enriching the character of all the distinctive YAN designs that they imbue.