Our Materials

Larimar is a very rare gemstone found only in one location: a single rainforest mountainside in a relatively inaccessible area in the province of Barahona in the Dominican Republic. The blue color can vary in intensity from very light to greenish-blue to deep sky blue, a perfect visual representation of the beautiful Caribbean ocean and island of Hispañola.

It is common practice for larimar stones with even the slightest imperfections to be discarded. Much like the women in the workshop, we see beauty in imperfection and celebrate each stone exactly as it was made in nature.

Amber has been used in jewelry since at least 11,000 BCE. Dominican Amber is a resin from an extinct tree. It’s transparent with a variety of colors from yellow, to red to blue, and typically has a higher number of fossil inclusion, from insects to flora and fauna.

The amber we use in our jewelry was hand-selected from a mine in Santiago, known to have the oldest (est. 25 million years) and hardest amber in the country. Much like people, we love that no two stones are exactly alike, boasting their own unique beauty and character.

Natural pearls form under a set of accidental conditions when a microscopic intruder or parasite enters a bivalve mollusk and settles inside the shell. The mollusk, irritated by the intruder, forms a pearl over time. The process is very much similar to our human immune response to a foreign body.

For centuries, pearls have been worn as a symbol of beauty, purity, and grace – paradoxically formed from the unnatural, unwanted and inconvenient.

Coconut trees line the coast of the Dominican Republic. Locals and tourists alike enjoy drinking the sweet coconut water as they enjoy and walk along the beaches. We’ve started collecting the resulting beach trash and are processing the hard shell with hand tools into the beautiful earrings in our collection. 100% natural: no paints, stains, or compounds. 100% upcycled. 100% ethically handmade by the women at Vida Plena.