About

A house for stones, in the United States, with a quiet position on transparency.

The Stone Atlas is a US-based gemstone and crystal house. Every parcel passes through our studio, where it's hand-graded, photographed, and packed before shipping. Trade relationships built over twenty years across Bangkok, Jaipur, Brazil, and East Africa give us first-look access to material and a quality bar that doesn't have to be earned from scratch.

The studio

Our position

We disclose treatment, even when the trade convention says we don't have to.

The colored-stone trade has a quiet convention: when a treatment is so universal that nearly every commercial stone has it, the convention is to stop disclosing. Smoky quartz is irradiated. Tanzanite is heated. Most blue topaz is irradiated. Most commercial "citrine" is heat-converted amethyst.

There's a logic to the convention — if every stone has the same treatment, the disclosure is redundant. But the convention assumes a buyer who already knows the convention. For everyone else, it's an information gap. We close it on every listing.

Three pillars

How we work.

  • 01

    Sourcing

    Annual buying at the February gem show, plus quarterly trips to Bangkok markets, Jaipur cutters, and Brazilian brokers. Relationships first; spot purchases second.

    Read more →

  • 02

    Studio

    Photography, sorting, packing, quality control. Natural light, neutral substrates, documentary framing.

    Read more →

  • 03

    Editorial

    Plain language. Geology, identification, treatments, context — not chakras, manifestation, or moon cycles.

    Read the stories →

The people

Four of us, four cities.

  • Mira Chen

    Founder & Editor

    Mineralogy MSc, twelve years across the colored-stone trade between the US and Asia. Writes the field reports and edits the catalog.

  • Tom Brennan

    Sourcing Lead

    US-based, twelve years on sourcing. Travels the global trade corridors and handles supplier relationships and quality at intake.

  • Sira Watanabe

    Studio Lead

    Manages the studio — photography, packaging, and quality before each parcel ships.

  • Daniel Castro

    Photographer

    Works documentary editorial, principally with natural light. Photographs the catalog and field trips.

What we refuse to do

Some things we will never do.

  • Claim healing, medical, or mystical properties.
  • Use chakra, moon-cycle, or astrology language in product copy.
  • Run countdown timers or fake urgency.
  • Use stock photography — ever.
  • Pay for, incentivize, or solicit reviews.
  • Hide treatments behind trade conventions.
  • Build a brand around the founder's personality.
  • Discount as a marketing tactic.