ModernJeweler.com |

Michael Dyber was one of the first American carvers to appreciate the spatial and sculptural potential of rutilated quartz. When he made those discoveries back in the early 1980s, the gem was abundant and affordable—no more than $50 a kilo for top-grade material. Now the cost is at least six times that and Dyber has to fight for primo product. “Everybody wants crystals that are water-clear, free of gas bubbles, and have bright, golden blazes of rutile needles,” says the Rumney, New Hampshire, gem sculptor.

The current feeding frenzy over this included quartz is easy to explain. Included quartz presents designers and artisans with peerless possibilities for individualism—an individualism that appeals to a growing number of consumers who want jewelry that is an expression of taste, uniqueness, and originality.

Those, of course, are the same attributes that first drew a new generation of American sculptors like Dyber, Glenn Lehrer, and Kevin Lane Smith to rutilated quartz. As the world’s best-known and most-revered included gemstone, rutilated quartz is a double blessing for cutters. First, it is endowed with minerals which serve as free-form, often stunning assemblages. Second, it is an inviting transparent crystal medium that lends itself to contouring to create unique shapes and produce optical effects possible with no other gem.

This interplay was a godsend for carvers who wanted to create art objects whose interiors were as arresting as their exteriors. “It was as if Mother Nature was collaborating with man on joint-venture gem sculptures,” says Dyber. “She would place dynamic arrangements of inclusions in clear rock crystal and the cutter would craft the clear substance in which they were housed to reveal and expand their visual appeal.”

Shortly after Dyber and his fellow carvers discovered rutilated quartz for art’s sake, cutters like Greg Genovese, Cape May, New Jersey, discovered it for adornment purposes. Rutilated quartz quickly became a popular pendant stone, especially with silversmiths. Now there was a twin tugging on supply as cutters vied with carvers for the 10 percent of supply they found suitable for crafting.