An Opal Obsession By Henny Buffinga Photos Daniel Nadelbach Stylist Gilda Meyer-Niehof
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sometimes wonder why I was always so taken with opals,” says Scott Glendinning, owner of Rockaway Opals. “As a child I didn’t speak much, but I was very visual. The 1950s didn’t have much color; magazines and newspapers were all black and white. I looked for color in natural things like butterflies, and then later on, in gemstones.” “
As a boy, Glendinning discovered his friend’s grandfather’s collection of gemstones. One packet contained opals and he was immediately smitten by the prismatic colors in the stone. As he started his own collection, he eagerly anticipated shipments that took weeks to reach his Cincinnati home from Australia, where up to 90 per cent of precious opals are found. As he grew up, he pursued different interests. Eventually, he received a masters of architecture from U. C. Berkeley and then later began a career in furniture design. In his spare time he began to hunt for gemstones in the Northwest. Coming full circle, he renewed his interest in opals and learned the challenges of cutting them. Named for Rockaway Beach in Washington, his company, Rockaway Opals, was born. With the help of his partner, DeAnn Owen, the couple took what started as an internet company to a brick and mortar location on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. Known for its incredible concentration of art galleries, Rockaway Opals is a refreshing break with an intimate showroom featuring superb opals. Rockaway Opals is one of the only shops in North America to almost exclusively sell opals. The pair work together in creating jewelry, relying on Owen’s skill in wire and metal forming. “She has a great eye for organic
designs, whereas I tend to design in more geometric shapes,” says Glendinning.
and mining unpredictable, contributing to the rarity of precious opal.
The couple is always looking for new opportunities, and they are currently hoping to find new designers to send cut stones and see what they can do with them. “We’re always looking at the jewelry and trying out new designs,” Glendinning says. “It’s not just a matter of putting a stone into a piece; we want to make sure the design improves the opal’s beauty. Otherwise what’s the point?”
“I always tell people we have opals from $100 to $60,000 or more, but its market value is meaningless unless you like it,” says Glendinning. “The key is whether that opal has value to you. You have to buy it because you love it, and want to be around it.”
Opal is an amorphous form of silica. In the right circumstances, water leaches silica from surface rocks and migrates to voids underground. Over time, the silica forms tiny spheres. If the spheres arrange in a lattice structure, the result is a precious opal with a play of color. Because of its unique formation, opal pockets are often hard to find, which makes prospecting
For Glendinning, there’s no question about his passion. “Their beauty is endless,” he says. “They are always a surprise.”
RIGHT DeAnn and Scott Glendinning
Rockaway Opals 610 B Canyon Road 206.399.7272 scott@rockawayopals.com www.RockawayOpals.com