Tara Coomber

WORCESTERSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM INSTAGRAM.COM/TARAS_BESPOKE_GEMS/

Tara Coomber was always drawn to the intricacies of nature. Growing up on a small island, she spent most of her childhood on a nearby beach. The shells and pebbles captivated her. “I’m naturally drawn to detail, and would sit in one spot sifting through them,” Tara says. “I was fascinated with finding things that were so perfect out of a chaos of millions of pebbles.” She spent hours drawing the stones and shells building the foundation for her artistry and becoming a “rock star” in her own right.

AN ARTISTIC JOURNEY

Tara’s path began by graduating in 1988 from the School of Master Jewellers, Birmingham with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Silversmithing & Jewelry. Despite creating pieces for international exhibitions and acclaimed museums, she gravitated toward those pebbles.

“To create something of beauty out of something so raw is an exciting process,” she says. “Every gem has a unique story.”

As a jeweler, she felt some of her designs were limited to the stones on the market so she taught herself to cut gems. She even fashioned her own equipment for many years before investing in the ULTRA TEC V5 Classic.

“Now I have the freedom to create endless possibilities,” Tara explains.

BREATHING LIFE INTO HER VISION

When working with a stone, Tara might shape it according to how she wants the piece of jewelry to look.

“Other times, I automatically can see how a piece of rough (stone) will become. And sometimes —and most interestingly— the stone decides for itself,” Tara points out. A stone might behave a certain way as she begins to shape it, or she works around fractures or inclusions. Although, she notes, “Sometimes it’s nice to keep the inclusions as this helps speak the stone’s story.”

MATCHING THE MACHINE WITH THE ARTIST

When an artist has the proper tools, it’s easier to translate an idea into a reality. For Tara, her choice of the ULTRA TEC V5 Classic gives her this latitude.

“I love it! Not only do I believe it is the best precision faceting machine on the market for its accuracy and ease of use, but it is a work of art in itself. There is an attention to detail on every aspect of its features. I feel at home sitting by it just looking at how lovely it is. It gives me so much pleasure,” she says.

SHARING HER WISDOM

For those just starting this journey, Tara shares a few pieces of advice. “I’d say you need a lot of time and patience when getting started. There’s so much to learn in technique, technicalities and the science behind it all, especially in precision cutting, but persevere.”