70          STATE OF THE MAJORS 2026
flow of a gemstone, a skill that helped when she 
began creating her own cuts.
She eventually got her own gem-cutting 
machine, and her parents helped her set up an 
Instagram account, @ilovegreenrocks. 
People she met via social media encouraged her 
to go to Tucson, including rough gemstone dealer 
Joe Henley, who wanted to help her get there. 
He donated a few pieces of rough for her to 
facet and they auctioned them off. The proceeds 
paid for her family to travel to Arizona. 
“That’s when I really decided that building 
a business could help me get into the industry 
the way I want to, but it could also help me pay 
for my education and the opportunities that I’m 
going to struggle getting, because I wasn’t born 
[into this] and I have to learn things the hard 
way,” Marshall says. 
“I have to learn things through trial and error, 
and that can be expensive.”
Marshall earned her graduate gemologist 
diploma from GIA this past November and has 
been refining not only her craft, but also her 
image and brand.
Her focus this year is to produce and promote 
more of the cuts she has created.
“When I first started, my cutting quality was very different than 
what it is now. Sometimes I find myself trying to reintroduce my stuff 
to people who saw it when I was younger but not [lately].” 
Like Sloane, Marshall has pursued relationships with Montana sap-
phire miners, and both women have worked with Anza Gems, Monica 
Stephenson’s company that partners with artisanal mining communities 
in East Africa. 
When exhibiting at trade shows, like the Ethical Gem Fair, Anza 
Gems displays photos of its cutters next to the stones they faceted. 
It’s an effort to highlight the company’s role in the 
stone’s mine-to-market journey—the fact that there is a 
real person, whether in a workshop overseas or in a garage 
in Oregon, behind the gem’s transformation—and invites 
an appreciation for the craft.
THE AMERICAN COST
Working with a cutter in America is generally a more 
expensive option than using a commercial operation overseas, 
a fact not lost on jewelers across the country.
Premiums are often for legitimate reasons, like higher 
operating costs and extraordinary quality, especially for 
artists producing fantasy cuts, which are exclusive, labor- 
intensive, and often made for high-end, one-of-a-kind 
designer pieces.
However, for the average business transaction, education 
on the retail side of the business can provide context for 
the upcharge. 
“Part of our whole educational outreach is trying to 
train people about quality factors, like what makes a good 
stone,” Prim says.
“A customer who doesn’t know about cutting 
quality, like a jeweler, wouldn’t even look at our 
stones, because they wouldn’t even have an in-
centive to seek more than what you can buy [on 
the mass market].” 
On the cutter side, a bit of ego management 
may be the key to achieving competitive pricing. 
Prim recalls Lisa Elser, a Vancouver-based 
cutter, sharing her stance on pricing.
“She is very vocal and consistent about saying, 
‘The stones are not worth more money because 
I cut them. A stone is a stone. I cut it well, so 
it’s worth the maximum of that stone, but that 
doesn’t mean I get to double the price because 
my name’s attached to it.’”
Prim says they aim to show small jewelers in 
Lyon that their prices are not that much higher, 
and the quality is a lot better.
“That’s incentive, and that’s something they 
can tell their customers, ‘This is the best, and 
you can have it. And it’s not that much more, but 
it is more.’” 
Supporting American cutters is insurance for 
those preserving not only the craft of gemstone cut-
ting but also valuable relationships with the artists.
“It’s going to be really hard for me to be in the 
business if [my clients] go for a cheaper gem than the American-cut 
gem,” Sloane says.
“If I can’t afford to keep running my business, I won’t be there in 
the future to repair their gems or cut custom stones [when the cheaper 
gem needs to be replaced.]
“Sometimes it feels like a negative thing to say, but people need 
to recognize that I can only be there for them in the future if they’re 
here for me now.”  
THE STATE OF
DIAMONDS 
JEWELRY 
DESIGN
COLORED 
STONES
Top: A moldavite cut by Justin Prim in a  
bespoke seven-sided design
Bottom: A rose cut by Justin Prim
A group of students in the Faceting Apprentice gem-cutting school in Brooklyn, New York
RETAIL

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.