Features
Thursday, 16 April 2009 06:04
Written by Urbanatomy

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One jeweler's dream to make a shining armor of precious stones

Québécois jewel genius Yves Lemay doesn't look like you'd expect. He has a closely shorn head, wears a khaki t-shirt emblazoned with the word "BOOTCAMP" and has tattoos peeking out from his shirtsleeves and collar.

Did you always plan to work with delicate jewelry?
Actually, I'm completely obsessed with armor. So to begin with I only studied jewelry to get access to the small tools I would need to make a full suit of armor I'm still dreaming of. I studied jewelry to learn how to set gems, emboss and polish fine metals to be able to make the most beautiful and elaborate suit in the world.

What do you love most about jewelry?
I love metal. When you work for a long time with different kinds of metal, you start to see them as people with their own attitudes, so you have to find different tricks to work with them! Platinum is my favorite as it’s extremely hard-wearing. I also love titanium – now that's one f*cked up metal!

Tell us a secret tip about buying jewels.
Diamonds decrease in value if they have a yellow tinge or also if they have blue fluorescence. As blue and yellow are opposite on the color wheel, if you have a diamond with both of these color flaws, they can cancel each other out. So you will have to pay much less for a diamond that looks just as colorless as a perfect one!

What do you do in your free time?
I teach kick-boxing and Muay Thai, refurbish cool WW2 sidecars and sometimes do fire-breathing shows. I've also started my own custom jewelry workshop here, and teach classes on everything people who love and buy jewels should know, as well as jewelry-making techniques.

For more information about Yves' custom jewelry services, or jewelry workshops and classes, visit www.ylemay.com or contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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