Sapphire comes from the word "sapheiros", which means "bright blue stone" in Greek, and has been cherished for thousands of years for its color, durability, hardness, and luster. Ancient Mediterranean culture honored sapphire above all other gems, and early Buddhists believed in its power for spiritual awareness. One of the world's most famous blue sapphire engagement rings is the one worn by Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, which previously belonged to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. 

COLOR

Sapphire and ruby are both members of the mineral species corundum. Corundum is a naturally colorless material but may have different colors when impurities are present. The rich hues of blue sapphire are universally known but fancy sapphires come in many colors including pink, yellow, purple, colorless, black, green and the rare pinkish-orange sapphire referred to in the trade as Padparadscha. Nevertheless, the most preferred and most valuable sapphires are deep color saturations known in the trade as "Royal Blue" and the soft velvety blue called "Cornflower Blue"

CLARITY

Blue sapphires normally have inclusions, so the lack of visible inclusions can have a positive impact on value. However, in some cases inclusions can increase the value of a sapphire when extremely fine particulate clouds scatter the light, giving the stone a velvety appearance without affecting transparency.

sources

Kashmir has a long history of mining spectacular blue sapphires that have set records at prestigious auction houses. The velvety "Cornflower Blue" hue and minute inclusions observed in Kashmir sapphire make them the most sought after. Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is also a highly sought-after source of blue sapphire. In the United States, the state of Montana has been a leading producer of both blue and fancy color sapphire. 

TREATMENT

High temperature treatments are used to improve color or enhance the clarity of blue sapphire. Diffusing titanium or beryllium into sapphires at high temperatures can achieve a desirable color. Treated sapphire may employ temporary treatments like oiling and dying to hide fractures along with using lead glass to fill pits and cracks for more transparency.

Named for the paper rings that distinguish one brand of cigar from another, the right cigar band ring can set you apart and become just as much a marker of your personal taste and style as stylized cigar bands are for different brands of cigars.

On their own, cigar bands make a bold statement. If you’re only going to wear one ring, one thick cigar band is the way to go. But their shape also makes them perfect for stacking. Our cigar bands feature simple yet elegant and sophisticated designs that look great alone and take on a different character when stacked with your favorite rings. And if you’re not someone who wants to wear their wedding ring every day, a cigar band on the ring finger can do the job, and with a little more character, at that.

Simple Band of Gold

There’s a lot you can do with a simple band of gold. With so much surface area, the metal takes center stage, which means we can give each piece a little character with different finishes. Just look at what a change of finish does for each of these cigar bands.

The Emilia Cosmic Diamond Band features a classic polished finish, clear and confident, a canvas for the diamonds studded across its surface.

The satin finish of the Geometrix Diamond Band offers a more modern, streamlined, and powerful look, reinforced by the geometric bands of diamonds like pillars supporting the walls of a fortress, or the façade of a modern skyscraper.

The Cosmic Moon Quartz Stars Band, on the other hand, has a brushed finish that adds to the soft, ethereal quality of the hazy moon quartz and twinkling diamond starburst motif.

A Grand Platform

The placement of the diamonds and the finish on the gold produce totally different effects, even though each piece uses the same materials—18k yellow gold and diamonds. That’s what we love about cigar bands. They give you a grand platform for a statement, whether on their own or stacked with another smaller ring. No matter your style, we’ve got a cigar band for you.

It’s been twenty years since we started Syna, but it would be another ten years before we really found ourselves and the courage to break out of the box and create truly unique designs. That came in 2014, when, after a decade of growth, we won our first industry award. It would turn out to be the first of many. While the love of our customers is what keeps us going, recognition from our peers is nice, as well.

Award-Winning

We designed our first award-winning piece, a mixed-metal owl pendant, just for ourselves. It was an experiment of sorts, our first time working with mixed metals. We set our imaginations free to design something whimsical and unlike anything we were seeing at the time. It ended up winning the Excellence in Design Award at the 2014 Centurion Jewelry Show, an invite-only trade show for the fine jewelry industry. That award gave us the confidence to continue in this experimental direction.

That owl pendant laid the groundwork for the kind of style Syna is known for today: sophisticated and timeless, but with an unmistakable identity inspired by special moments in life and in nature. We pushed ourselves even further into the realms of fantasy in the following years, when we created a dragon snake bracelet in oxidized sterling silver. The creature’s green tongue, made from three tsavorite gemstones, was the aspect that most intrigued everyone. That piece took home the Centurion Award for 2016.

In 2019, we won the “Best in Silver” Couture Design Award for our coral reef earrings in oxidized Silver and yellow gold. Having been members of the Couture community for a decade, it was the award we had always dreamed of.

And most recently, in 2023, another nature-inspired piece brought us another Centurion Award. This time, our hand-carved blue sapphire Mogul horse cufflinks took the award in the Men’s Jewelry category.

Staying True

It was by being true to ourselves and doing what we loved that allowed us to create our first award-winning piece. We stuck to that lesson throughout our careers, producing jewelry that, first of all, has to delight us. If what we’re creating isn’t close to our hearts, it won’t touch yours. Knowing who we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going has helped us unlock our potential—and gave us the confidence to create pieces we know will do the same for you.

Before we transcend the ego, we see ourselves as separate entities, disconnected from the whole. We think in terms of "my life", and "your" life. Therefore, we focus on ourselves and we use the world and everything in it to enhance our lives.

After we have transcended the ego, we see ourselves as interconnected parts of the whole. We no longer have a life; we are life. Therefore, we focus on life as a whole and we use our individuality to enhance life in its broader sense. 

This doesn't mean we conform ourselves, it means we integrate ourselves. To conform means to become of the same form as others, which reduces our individuality. To integrate means to use our individuality in a way that it adds something to the world. 

Paradoxically, that is the dance of life, to increase our individuality while simultaneously increasing our connectedness with others.