Tourmaline

Gemstone for October birthdays

Brooke loves working with tourmaline in her one of a kind jewellery.

"I love the multitude of colours that can be found in tourmaline. Tourmaline is a unique high vibration gemstone that is very grounding. When designing, I imagine a Tourmaline piece of jewellery as something to be worn daily, as it doesn't take itself too seriously while still being very elegant." 

Tourmaline has been known since antiquity in the Mediterranean region with the Dutch importing it in 1703 from Sri Lanka to Western and Central Europe. Tourmaline is also the national gemstone for the United States where it has been mined for centuries. First discovered in Maine, California became largest producer of tourmaline in the early 1900s.

The name tourmaline is thought to come from the Sinhalese word 'turamali' or 'stone with mixed colours' as it shows the widest range of colours of any gemstone from brown, yellow, pink to blue and green often with ombre effects.

Tourmaline is the gemstone for October birthdays. Tourmalines are said to be a powerful detoxification stone inviting positive energy.

Tourmaline is the gemological name for an important group of complex gem-quality boron silicate minerals. Tourmaline can be found in all colours of the rainbow from brown, yellow, pinks to blues. Most red, pink and brown to yellow tourmaline is coloured by manganese, while iron and titanium can result in greenish to bluish-black colours. The rare emerald-green tourmaline is coloured by chromium (and sometimes vanadium).

• Paraiba tourmaline gets it name from Paraíba, Brazil and is a deep green, violet or blueish tone.
• Rubellite tourmaline is usually shades of red, orange or brownish tones.
• Indicolite tourmaline is a dark green, blues or purple tone.
• Bi-colour tourmaline displays more than one colour in the same stone, often in green and pink but can be many others shades.

"Some of my favorite tourmalines move from deep green to a vibrant pink and even purple to bright red. I also love mint tourmaline which is quite rare and pairs well with other green stones like Emerald."

Coloured tourmalines grow in an environment rich in liquids that are often captured as inclusions during crystal growth. The most typical inclusions resemble thread-like cavities that run parallel to the length of the crystal. Green tourmaline typically has fewer inclusions than some other colors like pink, red, and purple. 

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