gemology

Gemmology workshops

For a few years now, the Maison Tournaire has offered initiation workshops to gemology (the study of precious stones). Thanks to his passion for stones and his teacher's past, Mathieu Tournaire brings these workshops to life which allow you to discover the Tournaire House and its jewelry from another angle

Succumb to the beauty of the stones

Our gemology workshop, allows those who participate to discover the science of stones, their meaning and how a jeweler manipulates and observes them. It also allows you to discover in another way the Tournaire House and its unique creations, which you will have the chance to manipulate during this gemology workshop.

The workshop takes place in 3 main parts

-The first is more theoretical and makes it possible to acquire the basic knowledge and the vocabulary necessary for the understanding of the workshop.

-The second part is devoted to the discovery of precious stones. Maison Tournaire does not hesitate to break the prejudices that can be had on these. You will hold in your hands diamonds, sapphires, opals and tanzanites that you can observe at your will thanks to an X10 magnifying glass.

-The last part allows participants to have direct contact with Tournaire creations because it is dedicated to their presentation. Between iconic jewelry like the trilogy ring Alchimie or the ring French Kiss And more intriguing jewelry like the Archipolis collection, you will discover, accompanied by a gemologist from the Tournaire house, the spirit of the house and its values.

Thanks to its user -friendly and participative dimension, this workshop will allow you to immerse yourself in the world of jewelry and gemology.

Gemmologies workshops are offered at a price of € 50 per person on a selection of dates. You can contact your closest Tournaire store for more information.

> Book your online gemology workshop

PRECIOUS STONES

The Tournaire Maison uses the most precious stones to design exceptional jewelry with timeless charms. Philippe and Mathieu Tournaire Façonnes and created jewelry with finesse and elegance thanks to the unique know -how of jewelry.

The color palette of precious stones

As far as we can go up, man has always made jewelry. Make to mark your passage, to evoke something or to symbolize your success. In general, he was fascinated by what he found in nature, especially the beautiful stones. But these are only pebbles, chosen for their particular color or brilliance, which we will then sublimate by size and polishing. The value that is attributed to a stone is not necessarily related to its price, it all depends on what value is attributed to it, sentimental or merchant ... Even a common stone can have value, it depends on what She talks to us. For example, if two lovers walk on the beach and find a pebble together, it will have much more sentimental value than another stone. The price is often synonymous with rarity for a stone, for example, shellfish had a high market value for people who lived in land, because it was rare for those who were not traveling.
When I choose a stone, it is not only with the eyes but with the heart too, I choose it simply because it is beautiful. It must be its "sparkling" color, that the stone is alive. I do not choose a stone for its name but for the optical effect it creates.

But before I present the stones that constitute what I call my color palette, I have to give you the keys to understand how I look at the stones. The stones that are used in jewelry are "gems", hence the science that studies these stones holds its name: Gemmology. We consider that all the elements beautiful enough to be mounted in adornment are gems. It is important to distinguish between the different types of stones that exist. There are obviously natural stones, found by man in nature with their singularity. Thanks to the evolution of techniques and research, there are also synthetic stones. These are made by humans but have the same physical, chemical and optical properties as their natural model, such as synthetic sapphire for example.
Finally, there are also imitation stones, that is to say counterfeits of natural stones which can be just both natural and synthetic. They imitate its appearance, color and optical effect; But they don't have chemical or physical properties. For example, synthetic zirconium oxide is the best known imitation of diamonds, but transparent glass can also be considered an imitation.

When I choose a stone, I take into account its physical properties and in particular its hardness, that is to say its resistance to the scratch and abrasion. To measure this value, we use the Mohs scale, the ladder range from 1 to the most tender, 10 for the hardest. To have an idea, we consider that gems whose hardness is less than 7 can lose their brilliance and their polish over time, due to the presence of quartz in the ambient dust but also because of the Things that we make to undergo the jewelry by wearing them. These must therefore be worn, maintained and stored with attention.
Another indication is important in the choice of a stone: its weight. We mainly use the carat as a mass unit of a gem that is equivalent to 0.2 grams. This value has been used since antiquity in gems trade. The word comes from the Greek "Keration", name of the carob seed renowned for its constant weight around 0.2 grams. But there is a distinction to be made, the carat is also used for precious metals like gold, it then designates purity. Thus a 24 -carat gold is 100% pure but it is soft, it is for this reason that 18 -carat gold in jewelry is more often used, like all major brands. This gold is made up of 75% gold, and the remaining 25% will give hardness and color to the alloy.

In this percentage, you can find money, copper, palladium ... in variable proportions.
Until 2002, the term "precious stone" was used to talk about diamonds, rubies, sapphire and emerald. It was a historic arbitrary classification which implied that there were precious stones and less precious stones ... Thus, since February 1, 2002, all the qualifying terms of the old classification are repealed, we are now talking about "Gemstones" to characterize all the stones formed in natural lodgings. This is the legislation, I just like to use the terms "stones" or "stones" to talk about these treasures.

The jewelry is thought of according to the choice of stone, I cannot afford to set up a too fragile gem if it is exposed to shocks, otherwise I adapt the jewel so that it is protected. Finally, the carat is important because it will directly influence the price of my raw material. But I do not choose a stone taking into account its size, as I always say: "Better a little pretty than a big ugly ".

Mohs scale

Ladder	Reference mineral	Means to determine the hardness by scratch
1	Talc	Crippling under the nail
2	Gyspe	Row
3	Calcite	Rowable with a room (copper)
4	Rail	Easily rascal with a knife
5	Apatite	Ray with a knife
6	Orthosis-optanite	Row
7	Quartz-Grenat-Tourmaline	Raye with a file
8	Topaze-Emeraude	Ray with tungsten carbide
9	Corundum	Row to silicon carbide
10	Diamond	Ray with another diamond