Sourcing with Julene

When The Idea Leads….

Not every designer begins sourcing with measurements.

Sometimes the starting point is a sketch. Sometimes it is a color that has been sitting in the back of someone’s mind. Other times, it begins with a conversation with a client about a piece they have imagined but cannot quite describe yet - occasionally accompanied by a reference photo of their cat’s eye or a favorite lip liner. 

In those moments, the process is less about specifications and more about translation: turning a feeling or an idea into stones that actually work in a finished design.

This is where Julene steps in.

With more than twenty years in the wholesale gemstone industry, Julene works closely with retail stores and independent designers to help navigate the earliest stages of sourcing. Many of the designers she works with are not arriving with exact millimeter sizes or quantities in mind. They are arriving with a direction — a color they want to explore, a mood they want the piece to carry, or a center stone they want to build around.

Sourcing in that environment becomes a conversation rather than a transaction.

Instead of working through trays by specification alone, stones are considered for how they will live in the final piece. Proportion matters. Color relationships matter. Sometimes the right stone is not the first one pulled from the tray but the one that suddenly makes the design make sense.

And when the stone isn’t immediately there, Julene doesn’t stop at the tray.

Working From Specifications...

Sometimes designers arrive with exact measurements in mind — a specific millimeter size, a matching pair, or a stone that must fit an existing piece. In those cases, Julene works backwards from the requirement, sourcing stones that meet the specification or identifying material that can be recut through our cutting partners so the final stone fits exactly as intended.

Part of her role is helping designers track down exactly what they need. That might mean sourcing a stone to very specific measurements, finding a larger piece of material that can be recut to match an existing stone, or working through the network of cutters and suppliers until the right option appears.

In other words, she goes and finds it.

It is a collaborative process. Designers bring their instincts, and Julene helps guide the search toward stones that support the vision — and when necessary, she helps make the stone exist in the first place.

For retailers, independent designers, and one-of-a-kind commissions, that kind of guidance can make the difference between simply finding a stone and finding the stone that makes the design work.

Because sometimes the best sourcing does not start with numbers.

It starts with an idea.


Related Article : How We Match Color and Custom Cutting So Well