EDUCATED CRAFTSMANSHIP EQUALS
Unparalleled Beauty What goes into a fantastic piece of jewelry? For Joseph DeBella of deBella Fine Gems and Jewelry Arts, the answer boils down to three components: education, craftsmanship and beauty.
14 Carat Sapphire-certified by both AGL & Gubelin Gem Labs Set in Platinum with 2 Crescent Shaped Diamonds Weighting 2.13 Carat Call For Price
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hen clients come by DeBella’s chic and inviting store next to Santa Fe’s historic Lensic Performing Arts Center, they are educated not only about the color and clarity of a gemstone, but also about the proportion ratios and fluorescence. “We spend the time to educate you on not only what it is you’re buying, but what the value is,” DeBella explains. He continues: “For instance, right now we have a large sapphire that has not been treated. That’s very rare because of its size and where it’s from, and there’s a big difference between a stone that comes out of the ground a certain color and a stone whose color has been affected through various treatment processes.”
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Craftsmanship is where DeBella’s designs shine. He believes function and form should go hand in hand, and “handmade” should always connote perfection, never an excuse for being rough around the edges. He commonly includes some aspect of the design that is obvious only to the wearer. For example, many of his rings are counterbalanced to not slip around the finger. He also frequently includes small diamonds underneath the more prominent gemstones, allowing them to sparkle more. “I balance timelessness and elegance with wear-ability and enjoyability,” says DeBella. “It’s about making the piece fit the individual’s body and lifestyle.” When he builds a necklace, for example, he considers if the wearer’s shoulders are
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square or their length of hair. Or, when he builds earrings, there’s always a left and a right to accentuate the wearer’s face. His engagement rings incorporate design components representational of the couple. To begin a new piece, DeBella draws a design by hand to scale, and then uses either casting or hand fabrication depending on the demands of the piece. Unlike many jewelers who use CAD programming, which he explains is simply a method of inserting various design components into a computer, DeBella builds his pieces organically, drawing upon his own raw skill and imagination. “I design for the individual body, hand or finger, never creating something generic,”