What Makes Emerald Special (And Why It's My Pick for August, Too)

I have a .90ct emerald that sat in my safe for several years before I knew what to do with it. I sourced it back in 2020, from Agere Treasures, an ethical supplier partnering directly with small-scale artisan miners in Ethiopia, and then I just... held onto it. Not because I forgot about it. If anything, the opposite - I think I was waiting until I trusted myself to do it justice.

When I finally took it back out, I realized the jewel's luminous green glow demanded an understated setting, nothing to compete with it. That one-of-a-kind necklace is what got me thinking about emerald again, and about why it deserves more attention than it usually gets.

A Color That Doesn't Apologize

There's a particular shade of green that only emerald does. Not the yellow-green of peridot, not the blue-green of some tourmalines - a true, saturated, velvety green that seems to hold light rather than just reflect it. I've spent years trying to describe it to clients who haven't seen a fine emerald in person, and I still don't think I've landed on the right words.

The closest I've gotten is this: it's the green of something alive. Moss after rain. The deep center of a forest. A color that doesn't ask permission to be noticed.

Part of what makes that color so compelling is that it comes with a cost. Emeralds are famously included - most fine emeralds carry visible inclusions, sometimes called jardin, French for garden, because the internal fractures and mineral trapped inside can look like tiny gardens under magnification.

In almost any other gemstone, this would be a flaw. In emerald, it's expected. It's part of the stone's identity. I find something moving about that - a gem whose beauty was never contingent on being flawless.

August’s “Unofficial” Birthstone

Officially, August belongs to peridot, the birthstone. It's a lovely stone - that bright, almost electric green, cheerful in a way that suits late summer. But I've noticed something over the years, working with client after client born in August: a fair number of them don't feel especially connected to peridot. They feel connected to green…but a different shade of green. To something deeper, older, more saturated.

Peridot is bright and optimistic. But if your August self feels more rooted, more committed, more like someone who has already chosen what and who they love rather than someone just discovering it - emerald might be the greener, deeper version of your birth month. Emerald is May’s official birthstone, but I’m all for others adopting it!

The Stone of Successful Love

Emerald has carried romantic symbolism for thousands of years, and unlike some gemstone lore that feels invented for marketing, this one runs deep and old. The Greeks associated emerald with Venus, the goddess of love, and for centuries it was considered a stone of loyalty and successful partnership - something you gave not just to mark a beginning, but to protect a love that was already established. Cleopatra was famously devoted to emeralds, reportedly claiming the mines in Egypt that bore her name as her own.

There's something in that history that feels different from a lot of birthstone lore, which can sometimes feel a little thin, a little assigned. Emerald's romantic reputation feels earned. It was chosen, again and again, across cultures and centuries, by people who had access to every gemstone in the world and kept coming back to this one when love was the thing they wanted to honor.

Where My Emeralds Come From

I'm particular about sourcing, and emerald is no exception. A lot of the rough natural emerald I work with comes from Ethiopia, where small-scale mining communities have been producing some genuinely extraordinary material in recent years. I love working with these stones not just for their color, but because I know something real about where they came from.

That emerald I mentioned at the start - the one that sat in my safe for years - came from that same world. I sourced it from Agere Treasures, an ethical supplier that partners directly with small-scale artisan miners in Ethiopia. And the truth is, the waiting wasn't really about the setting. It took me years to figure out what this stone wanted to be, and I've learned that's not unusual for me with a stone this good - the pressure of doing it justice can be its own kind of paralysis.

But eventually it became clear: this emerald didn't need a complicated setting. It needed room to glow. So I mounted it in 14k gold, kept the setting understated on purpose, and suspended it from a simple 14k cable chain with a lobster clasp. No competing details, no distractions. Just the stone, doing what it's always done.

That became the Emerald Slider Necklace - a one-of-a-kind piece, ready to ship now, and honestly one of the pieces in my collection I'm proudest of. Not because of anything clever in the design, but because of everything I didn't do to it. Sometimes the most respectful thing you can do for a stone is get out of its way.

Living With Green, Every Day

If a necklace built around a single significant stone feels like a big first step into emerald, there are gentler entry points too. My emerald baguette studs use 4x2mm lab-grown baguette emeralds in partial bezel settings - small, wearable, the kind of earring you forget you have on until you catch a glimpse of green in the mirror.

For something with a little more texture, my pearl and emerald assemblage earrings pair rough, unpolished Ethiopian emeralds with South Sea keshi pearls and a touch of cobalt glass, all set in 18k gold. They're bold and asymmetrical and full of movement - not a quiet piece, but a joyful one.

And if you want that same emerald-and-pearl pairing in a more refined, everyday form, the emerald stud and South Sea pearl dangles offer a softer version of the same idea: lab-grown emerald studs with pearl drops, sustainable and wearable in equal measure.

Choosing Emerald as Your Own

I don't think birthstones need to be rigid. I understand why they exist - they give people an easy entry point into meaning, a starting place when they don't know what else to choose. But meaning isn't actually assigned by a calendar. It's felt.

If your birthstone has never quite felt like you, I don't think that's a failure of connection. I think it just means your green lives somewhere deeper on the spectrum. Emerald has spent centuries being chosen by people who wanted to say something true about love, loyalty, and depth. There's no rule that says August has to sit that out.

If you're drawn to the idea of a piece built around an emerald - whether that's the quiet drama of the slider necklace, the everyday ease of a stud, or something entirely custom - I'd love to talk through it with you.