Our history

Thirty years, quietly compounded.

The Stone Atlas opened in 1995. Below is the timeline — founding, the first show booth, the cutter and broker relationships that anchor the catalog now, the people who joined along the way, and the year the printed catalog moved online.

  1. 1995

    № 01

    Founded.

    Mira's grandfather opens a wholesale gemstone counter in the American Southwest. The first parcels are Brazilian agate and Mexican fluorite, hand-sorted on a folding card table.

  2. 1998

    № 02

    First February gem show booth.

    Booth 4-307 at the February gem show. We've held the same booth number every year since.

  3. 2002

    № 03

    Jaipur cutter relationship begins.

    A handshake agreement with a third-generation lapidary house off Johari Bazaar. We've placed quarterly contracts there ever since.

  4. 2007

    № 04

    Teófilo Otoni broker partnership.

    TBR Lapidary, Minas Gerais. The smoky quartz Bahia parcel that anchors the catalog today comes through the same family broker.

  5. 2011

    № 05

    First lab partnership.

    GIT Bangkok. Lab certification on natural-claim material has been a quiet rule of the house ever since.

  6. 2014

    № 06

    Tom Brennan joins as sourcing lead.

    Twenty-four years on the Bangkok-Jaipur trade circuit. Field Reports begin as Tom's personal trip notes; we eventually publish them.

  7. 2017

    № 07

    The Monthly Mineral launches.

    Three subscribers in the first month; one of them is still a member. The subscription has shipped on the third Wednesday of every month for nine years.

  8. 2018

    № 08

    Mira Chen joins as Editor.

    The editorial program shifts from one-page printed inserts to the Edits, Field Reports, and Essays you read today.

  9. 2019

    № 09

    Studio building purchased.

    A 1940s industrial conversion with the north window and the textured plaster walls. Bought from a printer who'd been there since the building's construction.

  10. 2020

    № 10

    Daniel Castro joins as photographer.

    Documentary editorial work for the catalog and field trips, principally with natural light. Twelve thousand stones photographed by 2025.

  11. 2024

    № 11

    Yangshuo cooperative joins.

    Twelve members in Guangxi, three shared tumblers, one polishing wheel. The autumn fluorite shipment now comes through them.

  12. 2026

    № 12

    The catalog moves online.

    Thirty years of trade-show, wholesale, and printed-catalog business consolidates onto a single website. The brand doesn't change. The reach widens.

Today

Same booth, same brokers, same quality bar.

The relationships in the timeline above are still in place. Booth 4-307 at the February gem show. The Jaipur cutter we started with in 2002. TBR Lapidary in Teófilo Otoni since 2007. The catalog you see today is the consolidation of those three decades, not a new operation.

About the Atlas