Stone selection
Color, origin and character
Natural gemstones are chosen by eye and by feeling: color depth, cut, inclusions, proportion and the way a stone reacts to light. Each selection becomes part of the piece's final presence.
Materials
Gemstone Guide
A visual archive of natural gemstones used and loved at Dune Workshop. Each stone can vary in tone, inclusions and depth; these differences are part of its character.
Eugenia, co-founder of Dune Workshop, is a qualified gemologist offering consultations in commercial gemology in Girona. She is always happy to guide clients into the world of natural gemstones, from origin, color and inclusions to beauty, rarity and meaning.
Gemology consultation
Guided with expertise
Eugenia helps clients understand what makes each stone individual, from commercial gemology and durability to visible inclusions, rarity and the quiet details that make a gemstone worth keeping close.
Aquamarine
Aquamarine is my favorite gemstone. I love its clarity, its delicate blue tone, and the calm confidence it carries. It belongs to the beryl family and has a noble, almost metallic brilliance that feels both soft and architectural at the same time. The finest aquamarines combine excellent transparency with subtle silvery-blue depth.
Amethyst
Amethyst is a beautiful violet variety of quartz, perfect for bold and expressive jewelry. One of its greatest advantages is the possibility of finding large and even very large stones with excellent visual impact at a relatively accessible price. Depending on the origin and cut, the color can range from delicate lavender to deep royal purple.
Chrysoberyl
Amethyst is a beautiful violet variety of quartz, perfect for bold and expressive jewelry. One of its greatest advantages is the possibility of finding large and even very large stones with excellent visual impact at a relatively accessible price. Depending on the origin and cut, the color can range from delicate lavender to deep royal purple.
Demantoid
Demantoid is the pride of our brand. We value this exceptionally rare green garnet for its extraordinary brilliance and fire. Fine demantoids from the Ural Mountains are among the most collectible garnets in the world, especially when they contain the famous “horsetail” inclusions — delicate golden fibers that make every stone feel alive. It is a gemstone one can admire endlessly.
Diamond
Diamond holds a very special place in the jewelry world, and perhaps no other gemstone is influenced so strongly by fashion and changing trends. Despite this, I continue to deeply respect it. A well-cut diamond behaves beautifully in the actual process of jewelry making: precise, bright, reliable, almost architectural in the way it handles light. And perhaps we should simply admit that it still remains the ultimate symbol of durability and of that very moment.
Emerald
Emerald is never an easy stone — neither technically nor financially — but few gems carry such history and emotional weight. Its rich green color, natural inclusions, and timeless symbolism make it one of the greatest classic gemstones. Emerald speaks for itself, especially in heirloom and family jewelry meant to live through generations.
Heliodor
Heliodor is an extraordinary gemstone. If you are looking for a yellow stone, this is the first one I will recommend — honestly, probably the only one. Its colors range from delicate lemon tones to rich golden shades, all with the elegant clarity typical of the beryl family. It deserves to be used far more often in the jewelry world.
Indicolite
Indicolite is my favorite variety of tourmaline, known for its unforgettable greenish-blue color. There is something deeply hypnotic about this shade: dark, oceanic, slightly mysterious. Once you see a fine indicolite in person, you never quite forget it.
Morganite
Morganite is another member of the beryl family. It offers a wide spectrum of pink shades — from salmon and peachy brownish-pink to luminous soft blush tones. I especially love morganites that feel warm and subtle rather than candy-pink. Their softness works beautifully in both contemporary and heirloom-inspired jewelry.
Pearl
Designing with pearl always feels different from working with other gemstones. It demands a special sensitivity to proportions, details, and styling. Pearls can easily become too classic or incredibly modern, depending on how they are treated. I personally love freshwater pearls for their irregularity and almost sculptural character. But I would never refuse the opportunity to create a custom piece with conch pearl: one of the rarest and most mesmerizing organic gems.
Rubellite
Rubellite deserves to stand separately from other tourmalines. Its color is simply extraordinary: a true, saturated red with luscious hints of ripe berries and raspberry tones. Unlike many red gemstones, rubellite has its own unmistakable character — vivid, emotional, slightly wild. Very often these stones contain beautiful natural inclusions, and to me this only adds charm and personality. A perfect rubellite should feel alive rather than sterile.
Ruby
A royal gemstone from the legendary “big three.” Finding a ruby with a truly exceptional color — vivid, deep red without an unnecessary pink undertone — is incredibly difficult. And perhaps that is exactly why fine rubies remain one of the greatest investments in the jewelry world, especially if you look at the market over the past decades. Rubies can be too dark and burgundy, heavily treated, synthesized, or treated — all things that should ideally be identified and excluded with the help of an experienced specialist. After all, this is precisely why gemologists exist and what they spend years learning.
Sapphire
We all admire sapphires for their true blue — that iconic Royal Blue color. But their party teal variations are just as mesmerizing. These sapphires behave beautifully in jewelry and pair wonderfully with different accent stones: orange, fuchsia, yellow, champagne. And then there is Padparadscha sapphire — the color of a sunrise sky, balancing between pink, peach, and soft orange. Every sapphire feels like its own universe.
Spessartine
Spessartine garnets are sometimes called “Fanta garnets” because of their vivid mandarin-orange color. The finest stones glow with an intense, juicy brightness unlike almost any other gemstone. Together with Malaya garnet, which leans more toward peachy pink and dusty sunset tones, it is one of our favorite garnets to use in jewelry.
Spinel
Spinel is one of the best gemstones for lavender and violet shades. Unlike many stones in this color range, it combines softness of color with remarkable brilliance, high dispersion, and an almost diamond-like sparkle. But honestly, if you choose a fine red spinel — that is probably one of the most correct and investment-worthy gemstone gifts you can make.
Topaz
Most people know topaz in its blue varieties. Personally, I prefer it colorless or in soft peachy shades, because they allow complete freedom for experimenting with unusual cuts and proportions. And then there are the truly unique stones: Imperial topaz — bright, lively, glowing with cognac, gold, and orange flashes that seem to change with every movement.
Tourmaline
Tourmaline is the most popular gemstone in our jewelry because of its incredible color palette. Greens, blues, yellows, reds, pinks — few gemstones offer such diversity. It is also one of the very few gems naturally showing strong polychromism, where several colors exist within a single crystal. No two tourmalines are ever truly alike, and that uniqueness is exactly what makes them so fascinating. I especially love studying the diversity of this mineral and observing how each variety behaves differently in jewelry production. Some tourmalines glow softly and transparently, others appear deep and velvety, some are almost neon. Every color, inclusion pattern, and crystal structure changes the feeling of the final piece.
Zircon
Zircon is one of my favorite gemstones to work with. I love it for its exceptional dispersion and lively sparkle. Natural zircons come in many colors: green, blue, golden, champagne, but my personal favorites are pink and cognac tones and the rare hyacinth pink-orange shades. A fine zircon has an almost liquid brilliance that feels incredibly alive.
