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Interview Series - Stag & Finch

swaye2010

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Nov 16, 2015
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1,194
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I know people have enjoyed the interview series I have been doing for a few year’s on Reddit. This is Bryan and Melanie from Stag & Finch, which I know people have used for lab gems in the past. A little history about how they got started and how they are expanding into the lab gemstone world in the very near future.
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The question we're most often asked is: Where did Stag & Finch come from? And when we answer that question, we're pretty surprised at just how crazy it sounds out loud!

Stag & Finch is a husband and wife partnership and our story begins in the winter of 2014 in the Canadian Prairies. One fateful afternoon, Bryan was perusing Reddit when he came across a photo journal of a hobby gem cutter making a 'Hanami' cut gemstone. He had always been interested in minerals, but had never explored gemstones. After seeing that image and discovering it was handcut in someones home, he fell down a Google rabbit hole to learn everything he could about faceting. Easily accessable information was very limited as recent as 2014! It only a took a few weeks for him to completely fall in love with the idea of taking a million year old gem crystal and turning it into beautiful work of art that could be treasured for generations. He very quickly bought his first machine second-hand, a Graves Mark IV, and began practicing on glass and various bits of semiprecious gem material’s. It was incredibly frustrating, some hair was pulled, some curses, and the feeling of wanting to give up many times! As he learned through trial and error who the reliable rough dealers were and what to look for in purchasing rough gemstones, the basement of our little house slowly began to fill up. We made many awful rough gem buy’s, but we also got really lucky a few times. But as Bryan says, "Education is expensive!"

In the beginning of 2016 we got to point where Bryan needed to begin selling gemstones to just recoup some of the costs he continually invested into more and more rough gemstones. That's when we opened an Etsy store and made a tiny handful of sales, but we were still only doing this part time and it was certainly nothing to write home about. By the end of the year, he'd decided to purchase a brand new Scintillator faceting machine and pursue this for real - but first things first... we needed a business name. We wanted something that would stick out, be noticed and quickly recognized. There are a few reasons why we chose the name "Stag & Finch." besides, that we liked it! We want to provide a product that is robust, lasting, and reliable but also beautiful, playful and elegant. We needed a name that would reflect this. We do our best to put these attributes in every gemstone and every piece of jewelry, making sure our quality is no less than we would purchase for as our own personal jewellery pieces. To be honest, we are also fans of fantasy and love the feel of it. Melanie worked hard to develop our logo, making upwards of 40 designs before we landed on a ring of antlers protecting a little bird, and we're both are still in love with it!

In 2017, we both felt unsatisfied where we were in life and we needed a very big change. Melanie had been wanting to go to school for years, so she enrolled in University. We choose Montreal Quebec for a few reasons, but primarly because of the quality schools and Melanie's sister already lived near by. Later that same year, we sold our house, packed everything up, and headed across the country! It was around this time Bryan had become online friends with a gem trader/collector who had a large collection of precious and semi precious gemstones. After some back and forth e-mailing, our new friend invited both of us to visit him in America to view his collection. He showed us his collection of Montana Sapphires he'd had sitting for many years and we were both stunned by the quality! He was near the end of his career and looking to retire so decided to offer us the entire lot. We had funds from the sale of our house, so we made a deal and returned to Canada cash poor but extremely rich in raw Montana sapphire! It didn't take much after that for Melanie to realize she had a choice to make. Go to university, or learn to cut gemstones. She chose to make Stag & Finch her priority as well, and before long, her own Scintillator was on the way! She was lucky Bryan already did the hard learning for her and was able to tutor her closely. She picked it up really fast and in a couple months was skillful enough to help fill client orders. Since then, Bryan has had more time available to focus on other aspects of Stag & Finch, such as developing more custom cut designs like 'Stormlight' and 'Cosmos.'

Since we both decided to make Stag & Finch a full-time endeavor, the next step seemed obvious to us. We really should become GIA certified gemologists! This would not only lend the credibilty of having GIA behind our names, but would also protect us during large gemstone purchases by having the knowledge and ability to test our gems. In 2019, again we packed up, and moved to Bangkok, Thailand for 3 months. We chose Thailand for a few reasons - it was more affordable than America, Thailand is the worlds gemstone hub, and it had the making’s of an exciting adventure of a lifetime! We were lucky enough to stay with a fellow gemcutter/enthusiast while we attended our GIA Gemology courses. We met a lot of interesting people in the gem industry from all over the world. Truly an excellent life enriching experience all around! Our hosts also introduced us to some incredible people both in and out of the gem industry. We had such an amazing time and brought back great memories and tons of new rough gemstones, haha. Although, sadly we're still one course shy of completing our GIA Gemology Diploma, which we're planning on finishing in the very near future. We can't wait to go back to Thailand, but this time we want to tour around all of Southeast Asia! Obviously, our story isn't over yet. We have many big plans and ideas, excited to see where the future leads!

We would love the opportunity to cut the precision gemstone of your dreams! If you chose to work with us, you will be supporting a small, family run business. We offer a variety of lab gems, mined gemstones and Montana sapphire’s. We are looking forward to expanding our business and web presence along with all the products that we offer. You can find us here on the pages below. Check out our instagram page for all our latest projects. Turn around time after the holiday’s - custom cut stones are 1-4 weeks and about 6 weeks for custom ring’s.

Website: https://www.stagandfinch.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/stagandfinch

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/StagandFinch/ (u/stagandFinch) and (u/standandfinch_too)

We ship worldwide as long as there are no restrictions to your country. Please read through our additional info on our FAQ:


Cheers!

Bryan & Melanie Wiebe
 

StagandFinch

Rough_Rock
Trade
Joined
Dec 15, 2021
Messages
7
Hey PriceScope, Bryan here. I thought it might be a good idea if I try and make myself available to all the fine people here. My knowledge and experience may be useful to some of you who have questions about natural and lab gems, gem cuts and performance, as well as try to dispel some of the misinformation that's so rampant in the gem/jewelry industry.

I don't have a ton of free time since we are working on a new website to launch in the next month or two that will come with a bunch of new offerings, so we're incredibly busy behind the scenes right now. Plus you know, Christmas... haha. I will try to do my best to pop in on a regular basis to weigh in where I can.
 
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