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We usually associate the words “diamond” and “gemstones” with brilliance, beauty, and happiness quite often without thinking about their origins. Naturally occurring stones are mined. And the mines happen to be located in countries where happiness is rare, unlike the gemstones they are endowed with. West-African diamonds, for instance, come from countries that have been going through political and ethnic turmoil for decades, their political regimes ostracized by the world’s democratic majority.
The same is true of Pailin sapphire mines in Western Cambodia that was ruled by the ruthless Khmer Rouge responsible for millions of civilian deaths; proceeds from selling those unmatched sapphires were used to finance the authoritarian regime.
Unlike diamonds, however, the origins of sapphires and other colored gemstones can be traced accurately due to their unique chemical composition and thus, their sustainability ascertained or refuted.
The same is true of Myanma’s supply of other colored gemstones such as rubies, sapphire, jade, moonstone; when purchasing them, one has no way of knowing whether the money would go towards funding genocide.
Mining conditions are horrendous with few exceptions, whereas mines, when abandoned, leave an indelible grave mark on the face of the earth, deforestation being one of them.
Not all gemstones, however, are mined; there exist artificial stones with a 100-percent likeness. Even a professional eye may not be able to tell the difference.
Ciro Jewelry, a company founded in 1917 and after a series of ownership changes revived in 2006 in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, is particularly famous for dealing in jewelry made of cubic zirconia (CZ), a hundred-percent sustainable material whose origins are as clear as its facets and its properties the same if not exceeding diamonds.
When buying Ciro’s exquisite and stylish jewelry pieces, one need not ask them how they source their gemstones as their supply chain is 100-percent sustainable and ethical.
Since the 1970s, some 40 years after the discovery in a lab of the process of making cubic zirconia, the stone started to take on diamonds.
There are, of course, lab diamonds that are real gems formed in the process that duplicates nature’s process yet above ground. Lab diamonds, however, are 40 to 50 percent the price of a mined diamond, whereas CZ comes at a fraction of a diamond’s cost.
No wonder such sustainability advocates as Angelina Jolie, Julianne Moore, Uma Thurman, and Cameron Diaz were spotted sporting Ciro jewelry, whereas many other fashion influencers have endorsed its entry into the mainstream market as jewelry free of any ethical and sustainability concerns.
Ciro’s pieces compare in style, design, and craftsmanship with the big names such as Chopard, Cartier, and Escada yet come at a fraction of their prices. Made of 925 sterling gold-plated silver or 18 ct gold, Ciro collections are equally eye-catching. All white stones are triple-A zirconia in common diamond cuts such as ass her, princess, and pear.
Ciro’s latest First Love collection includes moissanite and lab diamonds. Moissanite has a history of its own. Discovered in 1893 by a French scientist named Henri Moissan in the form of microscopic particles in a meteorite crater in Arizona, the stone particles were thought at first to be diamonds; however, it became clear later that the crystals were composed of silicon carbide. As natural moissanite is incredibly rare, the one available today is laboratory-created. More than 100 years after its discovery by Moissan, it was synthesized to produce what is now one of the world’s most brilliant gemstones.
To learn more about Ciro Jewelry, enjoy their latest collections, visit their website or follow them on Instagram.
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