ANPA will  be closed on 25th December 2008, only. The Jewellery Boutique will be open 26th Dec and 1st January. Our opening times are as follows:

week days: 09h00 to 17h00

weekends & public holidays 10h00 to 17h00

The workshop will be closed on weekends and public holidays, otherwise we continue to manufacture throughout and will be available for bespoke jewellery requests.

believe it or not, but we finally getting around to unpack and display the jewellery that came back from the exhibitions in November. By the way another big THANK YOU to all our clients who attended and made both events such a beautiful success.So, if you missed the exhibitions and are keen to view our new ranges and designs, then please come to Kalk Bay.From next week on, we will also start to display new designs in our online shop. Some stunning new gold designs have been published already.Enjoy!

I have fallen head over heels in love with emeralds after I really ignored them for years and years.  I always associated them with South America and somehow never realized what stunning emeralds come from Africa.

Two Southern African countries produce astounding quality of emeralds, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Experienced gemologists can tell the gems apart. To be honest, I find that really hard. Both countries produce deep green emeralds in contrast to the more bluish green of Columbian emeralds.

Emeralds are fairly hard gems fetching a 7 to 7.5 on the Moh’s scale (e.g. tanzanites are a 6 to 6.5 on the Moh’s scale) , but are not a jeweller’s favorite material to work with.
Emeralds often are included or show stress fissures that can cause the gem to crack when being set into a ring etc., some goldsmiths refuse to touch emeralds for setting work and rather leave this delicate task to a specialist.

The good news here is that Zambian and Zimbabwean emeralds show a higher purity compared to their South American counterparts with way less problems when working with them.

Besides some cut stones, we have purchased some truly magical emerald beads for our necklace designs and they can tell me over and over that the lores and legends surrounding emeralds are a hoax – I keep circling around these gems, specifically the beads, touching them,  holding them, trying to keep a grip on myself to not whisper “my precious…”

It’s this time of the year again which means  that two jewellery exhibitions are upon us (more info under: http://www.anpa.co.za/event.html ); steam is coming out of the workshops…
We are working on a collection of new designs since April this year and we are really proud to announce that we will release about 100 NEW DESIGNS on the exhibitions in November!!!

We will present a bigger range of gold jewellery with a definite focus on floral ideas and high end gemstone necklaces and bracelets.

Following current fashion trends, we developed a few stunning bold cuffs and bangles incorporating unusual and/or big gemstones in a classic colour range (think moonstone, lemon quartz, mother of pearl and black star…)

We are displaying a number of ring and earring designs with gemstones that have been cut specifically for the designs – and the results of this rather extravagant plunge are amazing. And once again bold pieces dominate the range, interspersed with some smaller and very classic designs.

Andreas has outdone himself with a range of pendants, beautiful combinations, both in colour and shape with focus on detail and technical finesse.

We are extremely pleased with this years results and are looking forward to release the designs from next week onwards….

Its really great to receive such wonderful feedback - it  keeps us motivated and inspired:

In September 2007 I wrote a short article on concave cut gemstones which were quite a novelty to us at the time. It is quite amazing how this “sparkling beauties” have become a standard cut that we work with all the time and use in quite a few of our jewellery designs.

According to the cutter R. Homer: “One of the advantages of concave cutting is that it distributes light much more evenly through the length and breadth of the stone, giving the whole gem an interior glow that is very homogenous.”

We totally agree, but one should also mention that the specialized equipment and knowledge  required to create concave cut gems does add to the price tag.

Right now they are hugely popular which might also indicate a trend in jewellery design. High luster is in fashion and demand whereas cabochon cut stones are less featured. We definitely use less cabochon stones in our jewellery and often the cabochon cuts used are rare or special stones.

If you wish to view ready made pieces of jewellery with concave cut gems, you can log in to our online store or pay us a visit in Kalk Bay. Should you want to see a selection of loose concave cut stones, please ask any of the staff at the store and they will gladly assist you. Presently we offer a wide collection including prasiolite, blue topaz, amethyst, garnet, peridot, lemon quartz etc. etc.

I finally got around to add a tiny selection of gemstones to our online store @ http://www.anpa.co.za/shop/

Hopefully the online range will grow from here, but you can always contact us for specific gemstones that you are looking for or pop into our store in Kalk Bay and view what is available. The few gems I added online include a few specimens of the ever so popular tanzanite, a rare dementoid garnet, colour changing garnet, champagne diamonds and last not least yellow sapphire..