Romancing the stone
No-one has more respect for the brilliance of the opal – known to Indigenous Australians as the “fire of the desert” – than local luxury jeweller Opal Minded.
The Australian desert is unforgiving. “In the hottest months the temperatures often stay above 40°C,” says John Bernard. “It makes mining almost impossible.” As the founder of local luxury jeweller Opal Minded, John has spent a lot of time in the outback, specifically in remote Central West Queensland. To get there, you fly into Longreach Airport (the first operational base for Qantas, founded in 1920). Then to reach Jundah, where the Opal Minded mines are based, it’s a 2.5-hour drive south-west. The Bernards’ camp is another 42 kilometres further west – an X on a treasure hunter’s map.
John opened Opal Minded’s light-filled, intimate showroom in The Rocks, Sydney, in 1989 (his wife, Renata, is creative director and general manager) but his history with the gemstone runs deep. His parents were opal miners and he spent every school holiday helping them out in Coober Pedy, South Australia. “It helps if you’re born into it,” he says. “The conditions are terrible, it’s difficult to learn what to look for and, unlike mining for any other material, it’s extremely unpredictable. You either find it or you don’t – and most of the time you don’t.” He follows what he calls “a yellow brick road” – clues in the clay that point to where opals may have formed over millions of years.
About 10 metres below the surface, John and his team sift through the clay, inch by inch. The process can’t be sped up; when they hit a patch that shows promise, they must chip away at it slowly until glimmers of the stone are exposed. “The feeling is indescribable. It’s better than winning the lottery!” says John. “You’re in such a harsh, ugly environment when, all of a sudden, you find this rare thing that doesn’t relate to its surroundings – a rainbow in the red dirt.”
If you think mining sounds like the hard part, think again. “Finding the opal is only 20 per cent of the work,” says John. “Getting it properly cut, polished and designed is more lengthy and requires a high level of skill.” Other materials, such as diamonds or metals, have a consistent hardness and are sold in standard shapes so the cutting can be done by a robot. Opals, on the other hand, have variations in hardness in the stone itself. Then there’s the process of getting the best colour out. The cutter decides how to shape the opal and which side will be the face. It’s a precarious process – do you sacrifice size for red flecks (the most valuable colour) or leave off the red for a brighter splash of blue?
For Opal Minded’s customers, choosing a piece of jewellery is a similarly considered process. “Gemstone by gemstone, you look at it. It looks back at you. And, suddenly, you know,” says Renata. “When I’m with customers who are trying on the jewellery in our store, I know immediately when a certain piece is right for them. It’s a wonderful feeling to see someone arrive at the same decision.”
For many people visiting the Opal Minded store, their first reaction is surprise, as few
people, especially overseas visitors, have been exposed to good- quality gemstones. “You know what emeralds or sapphires look like,” says John, “but people might not even know it’s an opal on someone’s finger. It’s an exclusive language that’s only understood by people who’ve had exposure to it.”
Opals are found in other countries – mainly Ethiopia and Mexico – but they don’t compare to the quality of Australian stones. The opal was named Australia’s national gemstone in 1993.
At Opal Minded, customers are encouraged to try on different pieces in different lights, because the opals will change depending on the light’s properties and the way it passes through the stone’s minute prisms. “You know when you find something special, you cannot take your eyes off it,” says Renata. “That’s how you fall in love.”
“Finding the opal is only 20 per cent of the work. Getting it properly cut, polished and designed is more lengthy and requires a high level of skill.”