Sugilite Jewelry

SUGILITE

Sugilite is a rarely found pink to purple cyclosilicate mineral with a very complex chemical formula. Sugilite was originally discovered in 1944 in Japan by a man named Ken-ichi Sugi.  Mr. Sugi found, analyzed, and described the stone found on the Japanese island of Iwagi Islet… and thus, the stone is named after him!   The pronunciation of Sugilite, as with most minerals, was intended to be the same as the person after whom it was named; and in this case, the Japanese name ‘Sugi’ has a hard “g”.  However, Sugilite is most commonly pronounced with a soft “g”, as in the word “gemstone”.  The sugilite found in Japan is usually a visually unappealing yellowish-white, and therefore not seen in jewelry.  However, in the 1970’s, a deposit of Sugilite was found at the Wessels manganese mine in northern South Africa (in the Kalahari Desert, not far from the Botswana border).  Very light (almost pinkish) purples were found, very dark (almost blackish) purples were found, and almost every shade of purple in between!  Almost any sugilite used in jewelry by our artists came from this South African manganese mine.