Meeting Hascosay Gems

I had the absolute pleasure of making the 18ct rose gold necklace pictured below for a lovely client of mine here in Shetland. She had arrived with a stone already - a beautifully cut quartz from right here Shetland, gifted to her by her father-in-law. I have always been fascinated by the stones from Shetland which can be used in jewellery since I worked at the jewellers Hjaltesteyn as a teenager - so this piqued my interest! The stone came with a business card, for Hascosay Gems and so of course I was straight onto Instagram to make contact.

Turns out Ivan Williamson of Hascosay Gems is from Shetland. He has been interested in stones from a young age and remembers scouring Stenness beach with his father when he was peerie (little in Shetland dialect). He has dabbled in stone cutting for most of his adult life, but has spent the last 16 or so years perfecting the craft. Now a master cutter, he produces beautiful, hand-faceted, bespoke stones cut to precision in order to display the gemstone material to its absolute best. We hit it off straight away and made plans to meet when he was next in Shetland.

A few months later and Ivan and his lovely wife Kim made it to Shetland, they came by the studio here in Hoswick and meeting them was such a pleasure. We connected straight away and I immediately bought all the faceted Shetland Quartz he had, as well as a few other beautifully cut stones for my clients to see. A wonderful relationship has been formed and we are both excited to see where this takes us!

Feel free to come and see our stock of beautifully cut Hascosay Gems here in our Hoswick studio by making an appointment, and at the same time discuss starting the journey of your own piece of bespoke jewellery. Or contact Ivan directly if you have a particular stone in mind. Email him at ivan.williamson57@btinternet.com or reach him through instagram.