Los Angeles jeweler Brooke Gregson has a thing for gemstones, and it shows. The designer’s jewelry is handcrafted with great attention to detail, from meticulous engraving to colorful gemstone accents.
While her offerings are cohesively imbued with distinctive touches of design, they have one other obvious thing in common: Every piece seems to revolve around a super compelling gemstone—the perfect heart-shape aquamarine, an entrancing emerald, the less frequently used rhodocrosite, a tourmaline carved into a symbol, to cite a few examples.
Gregson knows how to let the stone be her guide, creating jewels the likes of which you just don’t see elsewhere. And she has a terrific selection of opal jewels, so we thought we’d get her perspective on working with this month’s birthstone. Below, a quick Q&A with Gregson on that designer darling and October gem, opal.
What do you like about opals?
Opals remind me of impressionist paintings—the sea, the sky, and the universe. To me, they show the art and alchemy of nature.
How do you approach sourcing opals, given their wide range of origins and personalities?
I have found the best opals in Germany because the best stone cutters are there and the Australian stone sources take their best stones to the best cutters. I also love going to the Tucson gem show and finding opals that speak to me.
Opals are famously delicate. What design or technical considerations are most important in working with them?
Opals are very wearable if they are cut by the best and set by the best, and luckily I work with the best setters and cutters.
The opal has been called both a stone of bad luck and a stone of prophecy. Do you embrace that duality in your designs?
To me, opals are a high-vibration stone, so I never see them as bad luck. I have always been drawn to water.
Top: Sun Ray necklace in 18k yellow gold with 1.7 ct. opal, 0.54 ct. t.w. rubies, and 0.33 ct. t.w. diamonds, $9,725; Brooke Gregson
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