Conscious shopping
When we make a purchase, we all want to find out as much as we can about what we are buying: essentially, we want to be conscious buyers.
This ethical goal is even more crucial when we buy jewellery, and in this sector knowing how to shop thoughtfully is not an easy task.
Just like with food labelling, the world of jewellery also has its own regulations and special terms, and if people are able to understand them, customers can choose to buy more wisely, saving time and money.
These regulations apply both to precious metals and to the gemstones fixed on them: just as it is compulsory to provide the proper name for each metal, gems must also be accompanied by a description of their nature and any treatment procedures.
Artificial and treated gems
There are different ways in which a gem can be treated in order to make it more beautiful. An example is the sapphire, a blue variety of the mineral corundum. Sapphires owe their blue colour to the small quantities of colouring elements that the crystal absorbs during its developmental process within the earth’s crust over millions of years.
Thanks to modern technology, today we can recreate similar conditions in labs through processes that give an even blue colouring to partially colourless and low-quality sapphires.
The treatments can be performed on almost all gems present in nature: thermodiffusion, heating, exposure, filling and oiling are just some examples of possible treatments, and these don’t always last forever: in most cases, the effects of these procedures tend to fade away over time.
Artificial gemstones, instead, are entirely reproduced in labs. This process recreates the specific pressure and temperature conditions necessary to allow the elements that compose the mineral to crystallise. The end result is a proper gemstone, just like natural ones, but artificially made.
It is mandatory for anyone selling a gem to disclose the treatment procedure it may have received, because this enables buyers to be fully aware of what they are purchasing, thus giving them the chance to make comparisons and adequately value products.
Natural gems
Natural gems are the result of millions of years of crystal formation that naturally acquires a specific colour and purity throughout the geological process involved. Once extracted, it is identified, selected and cut to bring out its natural colour and the unique aesthetic characteristics of each stone.
A natural gem embodies the entire history of the earth: thanks to the observation of these microscopic imperfections we can distinguish their nature and understand what differentiates them from a synthetic or processed product.
In the marketplace, natural and untreated gemstones are much rarer and more precious than artificial or treated ones: this is, plainly put, the truth.
Reading the tags, the guarantees and the certifications of the jewels that you buy is therefore essential to understand fully what you are buying, and to proceed confidently to your purchase.
The coloured gems used by CHIMENTO, whether they are sapphires, emeralds or rubies, but also amethysts, iolites, peridots, garnets, etc. are all essentially untreated natural gems. This is the brand’s choice, motivated by the desire to offer clarity, transparency, product quality and ensure its customers raw materials of the highest standard.