Soft, porous stones

What is it?

Soft, porous stones are rarely used in jewelry. The first reason is that they are generally less precious than other stones (such as sapphire or ruby). Secondly, porous stones are more fragile and crumble more easily. They are therefore more difficult to set, and require more careful maintenance. Porous or soft stones are lower on the Mohs scale of stone hardness.

Another special feature of these stones is that most of them are opaque. This distinguishes them from quartz and other known gemstones. Because of this property, some stones cannot be treated, so most remain natural until the end of the production chain. These stones are damaged after a rhodium-plating bath, so not all jewelry can be made with porous white gold stones. Rhodium plating is the final step in Façonnier's white gold jewelry manufacturing process. Find out more about this process, click here.

Who are they?

• Onyx is a shiny black stone;
• Malachite, a stone ranging in color from light to dark green with marked lines,
• Lapis lazuli, an indigo blue stone studded with golden flakes;
• Various types of mother-of-pearl, part of the organic pearl family, are made from fragments of mollusc shells and come in different colors: white, black or pink;
• Opals are a family of minerals composed of silica and water with inclusions, giving them a rainbow color. The best-known are white opal, fire opal and harlequin opal;
• And many others, such as pearls, tiger's eye, turquoise, amber, etc...

Original creations Shaper with porous stones

At Façonnier, we have chosen to work with these forgotten stones in some of our collections. We see the "flaws" in soft, porous stones as advantages. Exploiting the originality of little-used stones is part of Façonnier's DNA.

Their low hardness allows us to work them in our own way. It's a feeling of freedom and liberation to create our own stone cuts. Discover Façonnier's original onyx creations with the scarabée collection, and many more to come...