Studio Stories: The Pastel Gemstone Cuff Bracelet
What Is the Story Behind the Pastel Gemstone Cuff Bracelet?
The Pastel Gemstone Cuff Bracelet is a hand-fabricated gemstone cuff featuring Japanese Keshi Akoya pearls, ametrine, moss aquamarine, aquamarine, yellow aquamarine, blue aquamarine, kunzite, prasiolite, moonstone, scapolite, green sapphire, grey sapphire, and purple sapphire set in a repurposed gold-filled frame, part of the Tamar Collection by Andrea Li Jewelry. This piece was never supposed to exist. It began as a leftover, a gold rectangle fabricated for another design that ultimately did not work.
Rather than let the frame sit unused, Andrea Li chose to rebuild around it. The components were already waiting: gold-filled balls originally ordered for a different purpose, gemstones sitting patiently on the bench. Building from what was already in hand made logical sense.
Those gold balls became both decorative and functional in the finished piece; they cap the wire edges of the cuff, creating a smooth, rounded finish that prevents the metal from scraping or digging into the skin when putting on and taking off the bracelet. What no one anticipated was how difficult the rest of the process would become.
Why Was This Cuff So Difficult to Make?
Soldering the arms onto the repurposed gold rectangle to give it a new structural form tested the limits of patience and precision. Soldering in hand-fabricated jewelry requires precise control, enough solder to seal the joint, and enough heat to allow it to flow properly. Too little of either and the connection fails. Too much and the work is compromised.
The true test comes on the polishing wheel. A solder joint that looks successful at the bench can fail under polishing pressure, sending the piece back to the bench for rework. This cuff required multiple rounds of that cycle, a level of frustration that was neither budgeted for emotionally nor technically.
Artists face this decision constantly: let the vision die, or fight for it. Andrea Li chose to fight. What emerged was something unanticipated, a piece born from turmoil that slowly resolved into beauty. Like a small blossom pushing through spring snow. Delicate, but determined.
How Is the Gemstone Cluster Composed?
The Pastel Gemstone Cuff Bracelet carries Andrea Li's signature gemstone clustering technique, expressed in a more concise, refined form than the larger Pastel Gemstone Statement Cuff in the Tamar Collection. The cluster balances organic and geometric forms across dozens of individually selected stones, from the soft green of prasiolite and the pink-violet shift of kunzite to the rare color-split of ametrine and the deep hues of green, grey, and purple sapphires.
The design strategy relies on what Andrea Li calls "hero elements", anchor stones placed at key points to tie the composition together and ground the main cluster. Without these anchors, a multi-stone arrangement risks reading as scattered rather than intentional. With them, the eye moves through the piece with purpose.
How Does Andrea Li Source Gemstones for One-of-a-Kind Pieces?
Sourcing for the Tamar Collection does not follow a checklist. One of the advantages of designing one-of-a-kind collections is the freedom to lead with novelty, allowing stones to reveal their potential rather than being constrained by a predetermined plan.
Andrea Li is often drawn to stones that her gem show vendors carry only a single strand of in inventory, which means the finished piece becomes even more rare by the time it reaches the wearer. The sourcing process primarily occurs at the Tucson Gem Show, where direct relationships with vendors provide access to materials that never reach mainstream supply chains.
What Makes Japanese Keshi Akoya Pearls So Rare?
The most distinctive material in this cuff is a strand of Japanese Keshi Akoya pearls sourced directly from Andrea Li's pearl merchant at the Tucson Gem Show. The merchant had intended to keep the strand for herself; she hand-selects every strand on her overseas buying trips, working directly with her pearl farmers, and recognized the scarce quality of what she had.
Keshi Akoya pearls form when an oyster continues layering nacre without a nucleus, creating pearls that are pure mother-of-pearl from surface to core. Because there is no bead inside, their luster is almost liquid, a glow that comes from light refracting through solid nacre rather than bouncing off a shell bead beneath a thin coating. True Japanese Akoya keshi now account for well under one percent of harvests, making each pearl an unplanned rarity the farmers never intended to grow.
These pearls are not filler or embellishment in this cuff. They are the key addition that ties the entire gemstone cluster together, adding a punch of lustrous texture that contrasts with the sharp faceting of the surrounding stones.
Can This Bracelet Be Stacked or Worn Alone?
The Pastel Gemstone Cuff Bracelet was designed to be worn either stacked with other pieces in the Tamar Collection or as a standalone statement. Its refined scale makes it versatile enough for everyday wear, while the depth of its gemstone cluster and the rarity of its materials give it the presence of a piece meant for occasions that matter.
Sometimes the most wearable pieces come from the hardest battles. And sometimes the things that almost break the maker become the most quietly powerful parts of the collection's story.
The Pastel Gemstone Cuff Bracelet is part of the Studio Stories series, where Andrea Li documents the design decisions, material choices, and making process behind each piece in the Tamar Collection.
