The Earth is a gem among Planets

One of the finest gifts
from earth
is the natural sapphire

natural Srilanka sapphires

Natural Burmese Spinels

Our passion for Gemstones

Inspiration

“In 2006 when I held the first gemstone, I felt like it was the planet I was holding in my hand. It was a deeply humbling and beautiful experience that reminded me of how fragile and amazing our planet is. The timelessness of a gemstone, its scale and reference to our incomparable planet captured time and space to an extent I had not experienced before.
This made me extremely grateful to be here and to experience all the marvels of our planet. At the same time it also showed me that with each gemstone comes a responsibility towards the Earth.”
Svend Wennick

At Wennick–Lefèvre, we embrace the beauty of gemstones while upholding responsibility to people and our planet.

“Every single astronaut who has come back from space comes back determined to do more to protect our planet.”

“The most amazing part of being in space is to look back at The Earth” Richard Branson

“Every single astronaut who has come back from space comes back determined to do more to protect our planet.” Richard Branson

Purpose

We work to bring the planet into the jewellery business

We envision an industry that honours every individual, thriving for better opportunities for all. We believe that business and responsibility go hand in hand, and we want to take leadership and invite to share the tasks.
Through our commitment, we want to shape an industry that sets new standards of responsibility to our planet, our future and all humans.
Our values are: love of our planet, responsibility, equality, transparency, and positive transformation for all.

Each gemstone is an ambassador to our planet, creating a bridge between people, our planet and our shared responsibility.
We believe that our planet’s resources should be distributed fairly among people, while preserving a sustainable life on our planet.

Katerina Perez’ article about Wennick–Lefèvre

NATURAL GEMSTONES

every natural gemstone is a gift from the earth, it is my job to share this gift.

Nearly all gemstones are cut and polished, but only one in every one hundred is of high enough quality to remain natural. The others require some form of treatment – usually heat treatment – to enhance their beauty. However, any treatment turns the sapphires into something man-made and the connection to nature lost.

At Wennick–Lefèvre, we don’t believe in treating gemstones, apart from with respect. They are a gift from the Earth and should remain as our planet created them.

Only a natural gemstone is a true representation of our planet
– pure, beautiful and complex.

Every Wennick–Lefèvre sapphire is natural and untreated
– and we know the story of every one.

Vogue France’ article about Wennick–Lefèvre

LocaTIONS

Mining locations

Theses are our mining locations,
places we revisited over the last 10 years

a tight supply chain

madagascar Sri lanka
Copenhagen

Throughout our history with gemstones, we continuously aim to connect our planet and the people through our product. For us this connection has always been an integral part of how we do business. More than awareness, we want to take part of the supply chain from mining to selling.

First we source most of our rough gemstones in Madagascar, where the rough stones are brought in from the artisanal miners to the local marketplace. Our partners Aruwan and Rishan carefully select each stone to make sure that we have a high enough quality so that these can be cut without the need for treatment.

Secondly the rough stones are then brought to Sri Lanka for cutting, where we have built a cutting factory, Sunrise Facets, in partnership with Nilanthi Thisera.

Finally after cutting, the gemstones are sent to our office in Copenhagen – where they are distributed to our jewellery partners around the world.

Annabel Davidson’ article for The Telegraph about Wennick–Lefèvre

From mine to market

The miners work from early morning until the afternoon.

Only sapphires from Madagascar come in all colours of the rainbow.

From miner to market

Relations

Gemstone trading is a business to us, but trust and respect are vital and lead to lasting partnerships.

At Wennick–Lefèvre it is natural to have close relationships with all the people we meet and deal with.

Athula and Svend are looking at newly mined sapphires from the river.

Local trading in the streets of Ilakaka.

Sanjeewa examining sapphires for clarity under a tree, a typical scene in Ilakaka.

Tea break in Sanjeewas cutting factory in Kuruwita.

Sapphire rough are best seen in daylight.

Partnerships

the gemstone marketplace

All of Ilakaka is basically a marketplace for gemstones. Everyone is somehow connected to the business and you will find trading of rough sapphires taking place under most trees and all over the main road leading through the village.

Aruwan and Rishan (father and son) are our partners who are sourcing and purchasing our gems in Madagascar. They are originally from Sri Lanka, but they live in Madagascar 10 months out of a year. They are based in Ilakaka, the home of the sapphires in colours of the rainbow, where most of our gemstones are sourced.

Having known them for 12 years, this partnership has been based on personal preference. They are not only highly skilled in sourcing, but they are also trusting people who we share values with, this way we keep inspiring each other to do better.

As we have known them, they have also known the miners for many years.

Partnerships

turning rough gems into sparkling gems
– through equality, respect and work balance.

We opened our second cutting factory Sunrise Facets in January 2022 together with Nilanthi Thisera, whom we have known for 20 years.

Sri Lanka has a long history of cutting gemstones, in our experience the best cutters and most knowledge is found here.
Sunrice Facets aims to be the best working place for its people, while also providing the highest standards in cutting

Nilanthis cutting factory, while having a female owner and founder, have an equal amount of men and women employed.

The first step in cutting is to preform, here it is decided what shape the rough stone will be once its polished.

The second step in cutting is to apply facets, this also called polishing.

Madagascar sapphires in all colours and shapes.

CUTTING

Our stones are cut in Nilanthi’s workshop in Kuruwita, near Rathnapura in Sri Lanka.

We first met Nilanthi in 2007, our stone-cutter, working in a friend’s cutting factory. We have tried to convince Nilanthi to open a partnership factory for many years.
As of 2020 we managed to persuade her and had our factory opening in January 2022. We invested money and Nilanthi invested her time and space on her property.
Today, Sunrise Facets employs 12 people, and it is our aim to keep it small, focused and friendly – we think of it as our family.

Cutting a natural sapphire takes time and patience – and a lot of experience. Every gemstone is unique and the cutter gets to know each stone intimately as he or she works.

The first stage of cutting, called preforming, is the most important and it should always be done by an experienced master cutter. Once the stone has been preformed, the facets are cut and the stone is polished. This takes time. An experienced cutter can cut and polish around ten small stones a day. Larger stones can take several days.

The men and women working at Nilanthi’s workshop are in their mid twenties to late fourties, the master cutters are older. They are coming from the area around the small village of Kuruwita, near Rathnapura, where this expertise has been accumulated over centuries.

Mostly the jewellery industry has a focus on either high quality or responsible practise.
At Wennick–Lefèvre we are proud to be both.

The Earth is a gem among Planets

One of the finest gifts
from earth
is the natural sapphire

natural Srilanka sapphires

Natural Burmese Spinels

Our passion for Gemstones

Inspiration

Purpose

We work to bring the planet into the jewellery business

NATURAL GEMSTONES

every natural gemstone is a gift from the earth, it is my job to share this gift.

Mining locations

a tight supply chain

madagascar Sri lanka
Copenhagen

From mine to market

From miner to market

Relations

Gemstone trading is a business to us, but trust and respect are vital and lead to lasting partnerships.

At Wennick–Lefèvre it is natural to have close relationships with all the people we meet and deal with.

Partnerships

the gemstone marketplace

Partnerships

turning rough gems into sparkling gems
– through equality, respect and work balance.

CUTTING

Our stones are cut in Nilanthi’s workshop in Kuruwita, near Rathnapura in Sri Lanka.

Mostly the jewellery industry has a focus on either high quality or responsible practise.
At Wennick–Lefèvre we are proud to be both.

Contact us

Follow us

The Earth is a gem among Planets

One of the finest gifts from earth is the natural sapphire

natural Srilanka sapphires

Natural Burmese Spinels

Our passion for Gemstones

Inspiration

Purpose

We work to bring the planet into the jewellery business

NATURAL GEMSTONES

every natural gemstone is a gift from the earth, it is my job to share this gift.

Mining locations

a tight supply chain

madagascar Sri lanka Copenhagen

From mine to market

From miner to market

Relations

Gemstone trading is a business to us, but trust and respect are vital and lead to lasting partnerships.

At Wennick–Lefèvre it is natural to have close relationships with all the people we meet and deal with.

Partnerships

the gemstone marketplace

Partnerships

turning rough gems into sparkling gems – through equality, respect and work balance.

CUTTING

Our stones are cut in Nilanthi’s workshop in Kuruwita, near Rathnapura in Sri Lanka.

Mostly the jewellery industry has a focus on either high quality or responsible practise. At Wennick–Lefèvre we are proud to be both.

Contact us

Follow us

One of the finest gifts
from earth
is the natural sapphire

madagascar Sri lanka
Copenhagen

turning rough gems into sparkling gems
– through equality, respect and work balance.

Mostly the jewellery industry has a focus on either high quality or responsible practise.
At Wennick–Lefèvre we are proud to be both.