HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS:

• The women miners sign up for free, go through worker safety training, receive free gemology training, and Moyo Gems helps them secure legal mining rights.
• When they find gems, the female miners can sell into the Moyo Gems program or they can choose to sell elsewhere. The miners negotiate with the assistance of an experienced broker that they select, and all miners make 95% of the export price of their materials. The broker makes 5%. According to the miners, they are making 3-10 times what they would expect to make selling gems outside of the Moyo program.
• PACT (an international NGO) oversees the entire program and makes sure that the miners are treated well, paid fairly, and have access to education and training resources to empower the women as miners and entrepreneurs.

All women miners are members of the Tanzanian Women Miners Association - a trade group founded, led, and made up of women miners across Tanzania. The group works to fight discrimination, advocate for better laws and services, and help reach the most remote miners with the fewest resources.

This particular collaboration has extra meaning because of the awareness we’re creating about the ethics and origins of Moyo stones. The female empowerment aspect of this project is so exciting – it’s contagious. I have two daughters and this kind of message and project is truly powerful for them to see.

What was it like working on it?

When Ash was talking about this collaboration, I got excited for him but I resigned myself to not being part of it since I’ve been in the past two. Then when I got the email from Cat, I was so excited and honored to take part.  

Sometimes, I get really excited about a project but struggle to actually sit down, hash out all my ideas, and sketch. With this project, I jumped right in - zero difficulty getting to sketching.

THE DESIGN PROCESS

1. Sit down with the stone and ideate.
2. Create sketches
3. My CAD partner and I work things out to within 0.1 of a mm.
4. Then, the wax model is created – I added in some of the engraved details at this step.
5. Lastly, the ring is cast and polished, the stones are set, and it’s polished again.

Did you know what you wanted to design right away?

I drew 8 ideas and had a hard time deciding - they were all exciting to me. I put it to the group and they helped me narrow things down. That’s another great aspect to this collab – everyone can play a small role in the magic of it all.

For the past few years, I’ve been making more of these big chunky pieces despite everyone doing incredibly dainty jewelry. This pop-up was the right opportunity to finally make one of my signature wide bands for Gem Breakfast. I love making something substantial that will last a lifetime, something that feels powerful and significant.

Tell us about the finished design

It’s a 3.53 carat blue sapphire with slight purple and sometimes peachy hints. It's bezel set with a gorgeous layer of milgrain around the center, and the center stone is flanked by custom cut white baguette sapphires – graduated in size so they fan outwards. They’re surrounded by a hand-engraved halo of sun rays. It has a wide but tapering gold band for comfort.

Why did you pick your Moyo Gem?

I love a marquis and this one is green with an earthy feel – I immediately thought of how I could play up the green in the stone with enamel.

When I got the stone, I realized it’s a color-change sapphire! It starts out moss-green, and under incandescent light it morphs into a purple tone - that was a twist that made things tricky.

With that surprise in mind, the theme became the unexpected. Usually I design a ring on the second day, and then I commit. But this stone was moody and I didn’t know how to handle the shifting colors. It was a new experience for me.

What was it like working on it?

I started with three different designs and I ran them by the whole group. I took in people’s feedback, but in the end, I changed the ring almost entirely.

In line with the unexpeted theme, at the last minute, when I was enameling the band that goes with this ring, the motherboard on my digital kiln died! So, I had to torch-fire the band instead. That means I used a jeweler’s torch to melt the glass onto the band with a flame – the most ancient way to enamel. It worked and it looks beautiful and I’m very proud of how it turned out.

Is there a special meaning behind your ring?

I love when people create their own story or symbolism with my rings, but for me, the eye symbolizes authenticity – like the honesty and connection you can feel with direct eye contact. I also love the meaning behind eyes in mythology and design – they’re always emanating a lot of power.

Tell us about the finished design

The Moyo marquis sapphire is set east-west to give a lot of finger coverage and the five pear-shaped Australian parti sapphires look like lashes or tears crying out. There’s a lot of nuanced color in the ring that truly reflects Mother Nature.

The enamel band (which I made as part of the set) is a beautiful arch of turquoise color and finishes off the inspiration of an antique evil eye.

Together, the rings are a talisman, an heirloom - they’re little sculptures to me.

I love working with Cat and Ash and all the other designers that I respect so much – their talent and creativity makes me word harder. I’ve seen all the rings – they're insane. Every designer here has next-level talent and everyone leveled up this time in a crazy way – it got very creative and exciting.

This collaboration is really about celebrating women in this industry – those amazing female miners, us female designers, Cat who started this all, and Ashkan who’s such a cheerleader and supporter of women in Jewelry.

What was it like working on it?

I hadn’t hand-carved something like this in years so it was a huge challenge to make this very detailed piece. It was motivational and therapeutic to create it. When it was finished, it looked exactly like my vision and it felt really special.

The whole panther is hand-carved out of wax which took a very long time. I did it in stages – I started with the head first, then the shoulders, and moved to the body. It had no legs for a long time – they were really challenging. The setting was done in CAD and then the pieces were soldered together after some of the tiny stones were set. I lasered the Moyo sapphire in place first and then soldered it.

What was your inspiration?

I thought 'if I wanted to make something to celebrate women, what would it be?'. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had constant dreams of panthers – they’re symbols of guardianship and they’re very fierce. That felt like the perfect symbol. And as a mom, I thought how cute to put these cubs with it.

Symbolically, it came from my own journey into womanhood and femininity. It was a celebration of the feminine self – the fierceness and the protectiveness – the journey of a woman in this world.

Tell us about the finished design?

I made two rings. One is a very heavy, solid gold panther that wraps around the finger – it looks like it’s crawling around the finger with one foot pushing back and one arm reaching out. It has a black diamond spine and champagne diamond eyes. The moyo sapphire is set in its tail. Under the Moyo sapphire, there's a gallery of white baguette diamonds and some pinky-purple and peach sapphires.

The second ring is a tiny baby cub stacking band that nestles into the mama panther. There’s 7 pink-purple sapphires on the band of the cub to nod to the 7 designers.

Why did you pick your Moyo Gem?

Based on the designs floating around in my head, I knew I needed a big stone – the bigger the better. So, when I saw this stone, I knew. It’s the most magnificent teal-blue color with just a touch of green in it. It has a little bit of shimmer and a thin film of opalescence that give it a mermaid tail look – it’s incredibly beautiful.  

What was it like working on it?

I’ve incorporated patterns like this in metal before, but never including small stones - it was such delicate, intricate work.

I went back and forth, redoing the design over and over to make it exactly right – there wasn’t any room for error. Normally you set your stones at the very end, but this ring had to be made in multiple pieces and the stones had to be set first. Once the stones were set, we had to solder all the pieces together. It was a pretty difficult task – we had to ensure we didn’t fracture the stones or change their color with the direct heat – it was very time consuming and extremely delicate work.

It was definitely the most stressful thing myself and my setter have ever done, it was a team effort and we were sweating the entire time.

It was such a great journey though – I learned so much and my suppliers and setters were so excited to do this thing we’d never done before. Very stressful on one hand, but very exciting and rewarding on the other.

So, I decided to do an Azulejos design. Azulejos are beautiful hand-painted tiles that often tell a story or have gorgeous geometric or nautical patterns in them. You see them in Portugal or Spain or the Mediterranean. The word Azulejos directly translates to ‘polished stone’ which felt perfect for my design – it’s unique to me, represents my culture, and the word’s meaning is exactly what we’re celebrating – a beautiful, polished sapphire.

So, I looked through a bunch of different tile patterns, designs, and photos and I started sketching. I came up with a layout that I loved that would go with my stone shape and size. I had custom-cut sapphires made to fit this design so it would look like a real Azulejos tile.

Tell us about the finished design

At first glance, it’s a simple sapphire solitaire ring, but when you turn it over, there’s this special, symbolic hidden detail – almost like a curiosity, a little treasure that’s just for you.

When you look at the stone in the light, you can see the different colors of the sapphire pattern shining underneath – it’s very mystical. When you look closely, it has a stained glass vibe.

Why did you pick your Moyo Gem?

I initially picked two stones - a peach, pear-shaped sapphire and a purple oval ruby. I was going to make a toi et moi ring. I shared a progress photo and a client of mine who’s going through IVF messaged me saying she needed that ruby – the stone was going to represent the past, present, and future and everything she’s going through on her fertility journey. After hearing her story and thinking of the female miners, I knew that stone was meant for her and that I was meant to make a solitaire.

The peach sapphire remaining is one of the most remarkable stones I’ve ever seen. Something about this stone radiates from the side – it feels different and very special. It’s a peachy-orange color – one of the prettiest tones I’ve ever seen. My daughter’s favorite color is orange and it’s become mine also. It’s a big stone, about 13 mm so I wanted it to be a solitaire and have it be the moment all by itself – it’s so simply beautiful on its own.

What was it like working on it?

I did consider making it into a cocktail ring with multiple colorful stones but I wanted it be a sustainable piece with only the Moyo gem and recycled gold. It felt important to keep the integrity of the piece by using only that incredibly meaningful Moyo gem. Also, the size and color of the stone is so powerful on its own, I knew it had to be just Moyo.

Is there a special meaning behind your piece?

It celebrates where it came from – the values of the Moyo collective - love, empowerment, opportunity, and community. The project itself has so much meaning and it’s an honor to get to work with these stones because they’re so hard to find.

Tell us about the finished design

When on the finger, the sapphire is positioned to always point towards your heart.

There’s a hand-carved heart on the bottom of the setting to represent Moyo which means 'heart' in Swahili. I used all repurposed gold so it's a completely sustainable piece of jewelry.

What was your inspiration?

My inspiration came from the word Moyo - I wanted it to be full of passion, romance, warmth, and love. I wanted everything to wrap back to the meaning of Moyo.

This year’s program was especially exciting. The Moyo Project is doing such great work to support and empower women while advancing traceability. I’ve done a lot of research into these types of initiatives. Similar programs in Africa have proven that when you train and empower women, the surrounding communities get more economic benefit because participants reinvest their wages into their families, friends, and neighborhoods. It ends up building the economy in a way that few other efforts can. I love that this program elevates women and positions them as leaders – it’s really a shining star of sustainability and traceability within the jewelry industry.

A huge thank you to the Gem Breakfast team for putting this together – it has been so meaningful to be part of an artist collective where we can all help each other thrive!

What was it like working on it?

It was really fun. I tend to overthink designs, but this one felt very natural. I wanted a design that captured both the magic of the stone and the emotional, real connection to its Moyo origin. The stone told its story with so much ease, and the result is very special.  

Why did you pick your Moyo G

I was immediately drawn to it - the color, the shape, the size, everything! I especially loved the color change properties of it – it really highlights the incredible magic of nature. It's amazing how the earth can create such a vibrant blue and purple gemstone that shifts in different lighting.

What was your inspiration?

I was inspired by the heart, the purpose, and the humanity of this project. I wanted to capture the magical elements of the earth and the cosmos to celebrate this incredible gem in a balanced way.

My design represents the balance between love and light – embracing and sharing love and light with yourself and others.

Tell us about the finished design

This 18k yellow gold ring features a beautiful 2.46 carat oval sapphire from the Umba Valley, Tanzania. In certain light, the sapphire’s color appears cornflower blue and in others it’s a rich purple. As for the style, it’s a real mix of influences. It has Edwardian flair with streaks of art nouveau, and an almost alchemistic aesthetic. A heart and a star appear on either side of the ring, surrounded by white diamonds. These symbols of the heart and cosmos – or love and light – are intentionally presented in a symmetrical way to represent both personal balance and the urgent need for society’s balance with nature.  

Why did you choose your Moyo

I love the stone I chose – the color is so magical and it shifts slightly in the light. Parts of it are purple and peach and parts have a mossy green tone.

Honestly though, I was honored to make a ring out of any of the stones here. I believe we all got the stones we were meant to.

Is there a special meaning behind your piece?

The hand represents the unearthing of the stone and the hand holds the stone to represent "Heart in Hand' - a symbol of compassion, understanding, and love. It means "given from the heart".

I make jewelry because it’s significant and has meaning for the wearer. Jewelry holds so much energy – it even comes down to the music I’m listening to when I’m making a ring, how I'm feeling while I carving – it’s a very symbolic, important process for me.

What was it like working on it?

The first part was figuring out how I would contour and carve this tiny hand, and next was finding the stones that would complement the Moyo sapphire but not take away from it.

The carving was a really fun, meditative process – when I’m wax carving, I’m in the present moment. It's very intuitive – almost like figure sculpting. I started with a chunk of wax and began carving the tiny hand that would perfectly fit the Moyo sapphire. Trying to carve knuckles, fingers, crevices, and details in this tiny, tiny little hand was a big challenge.

Funny story: I borrowed my daughter's Disney figurines to use as models for the hand. There were Cinderella and Ana Barbies all over my studio! In the end though, I had to use my own hand as a reference while I was carving.

What was your inspiration?

I started with a meditation to decide how to symbolize this overwhelmingly significant project in a ring. I thought about the female empowerment, the mine-to-market aspect, the process of unearthing stones with your hands, and how my hands are my tools – that’s where the hand idea started. I’m reiki certified, and there’s a lot of mystical energy in your hands that I wanted symbolized in this design.

With that in mind, I wanted to put a part of myself into the ring but also honor those female miners, this incredible stone, and the cycle of education and female rising that’s taking place.

Tell us about the finished design

The oval center stone is set at an angle with the hand cupping the stone. On one side, there’s a constellation of purple, peachy rustic sapphires that pull out the natural saturation and hue from the center stone.

The hand peaks around the stone and the wrist drops down to the side, flowing into the organic curved band that contours around the finger.

It feels very significant, and substantial and it’s so exciting to celebrate the women who unearthed these stones.