Collection: Jade

About Jade

Jade is not one mineral but two: jadeite and nephrite, each formed under the extreme pressure of colliding tectonic plates and each valued, independently, by cultures who never had contact with one another. Chinese artisans carved nephrite into ceremonial discs and burial ornaments beginning in the Neolithic period; Maori craftspeople in New Zealand shaped nephrite pounamu into tools and treasured heirlooms; and the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec civilizations of Mesoamerica prized jadeite above gold, associating it with breath, water, and life itself. Wherever it surfaces, jade tends to be treated less like a decoration and more like an inheritance, something built to outlast the person who first held it.