SELECTION AS AN ACT OF RESPONSIBILITY

The word "quality" in the jewellery industry today often functions as a declaration. At La Marqueuse, however, we believe that every declaration should carry responsibility. The question of quality concerns not only the parameters of a stone, but also the manner of its sourcing, selection, and provenance.

At La Marqueuse, quality is the consequence of decisions that remain invisible. It means relinquishing time, availability, and quantity. Not every stone meets the standards we consider appropriate. The selection process takes months, and its outcome is more often a refusal than a purchase.

Before we assess the optics of a stone, its structure and colour, a fundamental condition must be met: knowledge of where the stone comes from. Transparency of source is the starting point of our selection process. We do not work with materials whose provenance we are unable to verify. CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, notes in its Responsible Sourcing Blue Book that this is of particular importance in the case of coloured stones.

The example of Burmese rubies demonstrates that a stone's provenance is not secondary information. In recent years, reports from international organisations have documented links between Myanmar's gemstone sector and the financing of the military junta. For La Marqueuse, this means sourcing must be selected with the same precision applied to a stone's colour or proportions.

La Marqueuse sources rubies from Mozambique, from deposits operated in accordance with contemporary environmental and social standards. Emeralds come from the Kagem mine in Zambia, sapphires from Ceylon, and pink sapphires from Madagascar. Each of these sources has documented provenance. We believe that traceability of a stone should be the standard, not the exception.

A GIA, HRD, or IGI certificate is an indispensable tool. It describes the parameters of a stone at the time of examination: weight, colour, clarity, and cut on an accepted scale. It forms the basis of assessment, but does not determine the final selection of a stone.

In the standard collections of La Marqueuse, diamonds fall within the colour range D to G, VS clarity, and carry a triple excellent grade in the categories of proportions, symmetry, and polish. These are the parameters that define our everyday work. A certificate does not, however, describe everything that reveals itself under direct observation.

Cut angles, pavilion depth, table width, and girdle thickness are parameters whose value is assessed through direct engagement with light. In coloured stones, colour, its saturation, and its distribution remain paramount. The same stone may behave differently in daylight and artificial light. Uneven colour distribution, fractures breaking the surface of facets, and inclusions that compromise durability within a setting are disqualifying criteria.

The selection of stones at La Marqueuse is based on the gemological expertise of the brand's founder, Urszula Dmowska-Gęsiorek, a certified jewellery valuer, pearl expert, and HRD international diamond expert. Each stone is examined and assessed for its proportions, structure, colour, and potential within the context of its future setting. Selection here means, above all, refusal.

The market today offers an alternative in the form of laboratory-grown stones, produced at scale. The debate surrounding natural and laboratory-grown gemstones requires nuance and precision. Laboratory production is often presented as an environmentally preferable alternative; however, its overall impact depends on factors such as energy sources, production technology, and manufacturing scale. The environmental footprint of natural extraction also varies considerably depending on location, mining methods, and operational standards.

At La Marqueuse, we work exclusively with natural gemstones. This choice carries responsibility for sourcing, transparency, and the longevity of the object itself. The environmental, social, and economic implications of laboratory-grown stones are complex and deserve a dedicated discussion of their own.

Among the rarest treasures in the brand’s palette, Conch pearls hold a place of their own. Ranking among the rarest stones in the jewellery world, they form naturally inside the Caribbean mollusc Strombus gigas, without cultivation and without human intervention. It is estimated that one in ten thousand shells may contain a pearl, of which only a small proportion reaches gem quality. Their characteristic pink hue derives from the colour of the shell's interior and the mollusc's diet.

Every natural stone retains a trace of the place, time, and process in which it was formed. It is precisely this irreproducibility that constitutes, for us, the essence of value.

Quality understood as responsibility is the sum of decisions concerning provenance, the character of the stone, its proportions, durability, and the production process. Each of these decisions is made before the stone ever reaches the brand's Warsaw Atelier. These are elements invisible at first glance, yet in our view decisive in determining whether a piece of jewellery will carry value as time passes.

We believe that objects designed with longevity in mind should be made from materials of transparent provenance, selected with the same attentiveness with which they will be worn for years to come.

Sources:

• CIBJO, Responsible Sourcing Blue Book, World Jewellery Confederation, 2023.

• Global Witness, Conflict Rubies: How Luxury Jewellers Risk Funding Military Abuses in Myanmar, 2021.

• Tom Andrews, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, OHCHR, 2023.