Artist's Insights Series February 2018

Insight 2: Virtues of Simplicity

"...this 125 carat sapphire is ready to polish."

The care taken in forming the rarest of gemstones is of the highest order. It requires a collaboration formed through trust, reinforced by decades of experience in dealing with precious items whose values can often increase significantly when touched by the gifted hand. Watching Jerrold Green form the facade of an important gemstone is, in and of itself, a privilege beyond words. For gem people in the know, it is comparable to seeing Picasso at work in his studio in Mougins in the south of France, Margot Fonteyn rehearsing for her groundbreaking performances with the Royal Ballet when they toured the United States in 1949, or the Rolling Stones recording Exile on Main Street in Nellcôte, France in the early 1970's.

All of these great artists share a similar goal. To create more beauty, more purpose, and more impact through simplicity. To add value by reducing complexities. To enhance understanding through collaboration. To cut through the static with jarring clarity. To prune the extemporaneous in order to bask in the essence. 

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From 2011-2016 Richard Orbach discreetly documented the cutting and transformation of many of recent history's great gemstones of color in the workshop of legendary gem cutter's Reginald C. Miller Lapidary. This video short is  part of a series of brief insights to include both the art of the lapidary, the artists who practice the ancient art of gem cutting and the unique partnership of man and nature in bringing beauty, light and value into being. 

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