Materials

Gemstones

The design of a piece often starts with the selection of a personal gemstone. We select and buy our stones ourselves from deal-partners we have ascerted as trustworthy and professional. In this way we are able to offer our clients a high quality and versatile selection of gemstones.

All our stones are beautifully cut which does justice to the colours.

Diamonds

The diamond, the best known gemstone of them all, is the most used stone in our jewellery. We always select diamonds of the best possible quality. In this way stunning stones, personal design and the high quality of the craft complement each other. There are now several different options for diamonds: natural diamonds, lab-grown diamonds, and so-called Ocean Diamonds collected from the sea floor. You can read about the different diamond options here.

Coloured Gemstones

Atelier Torbjörn Tillander’s jewellery is known for their delicious colours and fine colour combinations. We actually use a lot of coloured stones in our jewellery. The ruby, emerald and sapphire are the most traditional precious stones used in jewellery. Out of the sapphire’s range of colours we use but the sophisticated blues also other colours such as yellow, orange, green, shades of violet and pink.

Other popular beautiful stones are amongst others the delicately light coloured morganites and beryls. Our favourite stone the tourmaline is found in rich juicy greens and luscious reds but also in an array of pinks. Not to mention the amazing and rare neon-green and blue Paraíba Tourmaline.

We design a lot of jewellery out of our customers’ own stones. 

Pearls

Pearls are divided into freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls depending on where they are cultured. A sleek and smooth surface, a round shape and good lustre are indicators of quality. Almost all pearls are cultured and created through the aid of man. Natural pearls are rare and present almost solely in antique jewellery.

Tahitian pearls and South Sea pearls are the queens of pearls. They are remarkable in size, round, drop shaped or irregular so called baroque pearls. The range of colours is extensive and ranges from various light colours to very dark ones. At its best the surface of these pearls has a coloured shimmer that resembles the metallic lustre of a peacocks plume.

Akoya pearls, cultivated Japanese saltwater pearls are white, symmetrical and round pearls often combined with a strong lustre. A good lustre speaks of a thick layer of nacre and is a sign of good quality when it comes to akoya pearls. In our shop you can collect a necklace of such akoya pearls by purchasing only one pearl at a time.

Saltwater pearls are also an ecological and environmentally friendly product, as pearl oysters do not thrive in polluted waters. Only a thriving and healthy oyster produces beautiful pearls. This motivates pearl farms to take care of their environments.

Freshwater pearls are more affordable and recognizable by their slightly elliptic shape and slightly matter lustre. These pearls are often dyed and treated in various ways. Thanks to the increasing and continuously developing cultivation of freshwater pearls the selection of them has also improved and become more comprehensive.

We at Atelier Torbjörn Tillander use wonderful pearls in a creative and versatile way in our jewellery design. By combining the awesome colours and interesting shapes of pearls and gemstones we create truly unique jewellery.

In our shops you will find but pearl jewellery also a range of individual pearls. You can read more about pearls here. 

Metals

Jewellery made by Atelier Torbjörn Tillander is elaborately hand crafted which is why they are always made by the most suitable and fine materials. 

We use mainly 750‰ gold and white gold (18 carats) and 950‰ platinum as metals in our jewellery. 750‰ gold is well suited for handcrafted jewellery as it is easy to work and beautiful once polished. White gold is ever so often rhodium plated which makes the surface of white gold even more white. We also use non-coated white gold as the metal is stunning in itself. Also dark rhodium plating which makes the surface of white gold nearly black suits a lot of our jewellery.

Platinum is the most noble metal of all and has a whiter colour than white gold. There is no need to plate platinum as its real colour is instantly visible. Our goldsmiths are used to craft jewellery out of this challenging metal. Platinum has a soft but durable surface that over time gets its characteristic silky patina.

As is customary in the jewelry industry, we use recycled gold for all our gold materials. We also strive for comprehensive recycling in our operations and carefully select our raw materials.