In 2004, I applied for a patent for a stone-setting technique I invented. I was granted the patent a number of years later, and I have since used it in numerous pieces. My first collection that featured these settings was (and still is!) called "Rocks that Rock." I would find pretty rocks along the Yellowstone River by my house in Paradise Valley, and then embellished them with diamonds and Montana sapphires.
One day, Conrad Anker, strolled in. He had purchased pieces for his wife, Jenny Lowe-Anker, on a number of occasions. But on this particular occasion, he asked if I would consider turning a rock of his own into a Rocks that Rock" pendant. Before I could answer, he dug into his pocket, pulled out a rock unlike any I had worked on before, and set it in front of me.
"This is from my last ascent of Everest. It would be so meaningful for me and Jenny to have her wear this."
When Jenny Lowe-Anker 's book, "Forget Me Not," was published in 2008, she was invited onto all the major morning shows to promote it. She was kind enough to always let me know when her appearances were imminent, so I could see her wearing it. On the Today Show, Ann Curry inquired about it on air, and Jenny was so lovely to explain the origin of both the rock and the pendant into which it was made.
Do you have a special rock that could use a magical transformation into a piece of wearable art?
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