Sapphire is one of the four precious stones, along with diamond, ruby, and emerald. We imagine it blue, but it exists in almost every color: yellow, orange, pink, purple, green, and even colorless. Orcha sets it in 925 sterling silver, 9-carat gold, and 18-carat gold, using colored sapphires chosen one by one by Lauren, the brand's creator, and star sapphires.
Sapphire is a variety of corundum, an aluminum oxide. With a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, it is surpassed only by diamond among gemstones: it resists scratches and retains its polish for years, making it an ideal stone for rings worn every day. It is traces of other elements that color it: iron and titanium give blue, chromium pink, and iron alone yellow and orange. Red corundum, colored by a greater amount of chromium, bears another name: ruby.
Blue remains the color most associated with sapphire. Historian Michel Pastoureau showed, in his book dedicated to blue, how this color became in the West that of serenity and fidelity, and the favorite color of a large majority of Europeans. Yellow, pink, or orange sapphires offer another reading of the same stone, brighter and more sun-like.
The star sapphire is a curiosity of nature. Very fine rutile needles, oriented in the crystal, reflect light in a six-pointed star that glides across the surface of the stone when moved. Gemmologists call this phenomenon asterism. To reveal it, the stone is cut into a cabochon, a domed and polished shape.
Sapphire is worked in two forms. Cut sapphires, cut to precise dimensions, fit to the millimeter in the fine settings of the small series in 9-carat gold. The unique pieces, in silver or 18-carat gold, are designed around a single stone, for its shade or its brilliance. Each piece is designed in France and then handmade in partner workshops in Bangkok and Jaipur.
All our sapphires are natural stones. On the market, a large part of sapphires are heated to reveal or intensify their color, an old and common practice. When a stone has received treatment, it is systematically indicated on its sheet. Our guide explains how to recognize a quality gemstone, our frequently asked questions about gemstones answer the most common questions, and the page our artisans and the origin of our stones presents those who shape and set these pieces of jewelry.
Each piece is delivered in its Orcha box with a certificate of authenticity.
