A gemstone’s trip from the earth to your hands is often long and complicated.  From the time the stone leaves the earth, many people handle these objects/  This diagram, based on the many years’ experience of Eric Braunwart of Columbia Gem House, illustrates the possibilities along the way.  Susan Eriksson uses stones with a much less complicated path – as straight as possible from the mine to you to avoid the possibilities of synthetic, dyed, faked stones which have exploited workers along the way.  She is still learning – but the objective of this jewelry line is to have stones with known origin and mined and cut in equitable working conditions with minima impact on the environment.  This is complicated and difficult.