Jóia do Rio Grande / Jewelry design

These earrings were designed to feature naturally occurring gems from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. This state in southern Brazil produces semi-precious gemstones of fine quality, but they are usually sold in their rough state, or in very simple cuts; very little value is added to them locally. Thus, the premise is to combine local design and craftsmanship in order to fully utilize the value and beauty of these gemstones. The project explores the prismatic geometry of the crystal system in some gems commonly found in the state, such as amethyst, citrine and acquamarine, combining small crystals of these gems around a dodecahedral nucleus.