Quartz

Quartz is the mineral name; rock crystal refers specifically to its clear, colorless crystal. They are the same mineral — depending on color and condition it also goes by names such as amethyst (purple), citrine (gold), rose quartz and smoky quartz.

Quartz is traditionally associated with cleansing, harmony, amplification, protection, intuition, latent potential, purity and clarity. Long called the “parent of all stones” and the “stone of cleansing”, it has been widely cherished as a charm and as natural-stone jewelry.

Its Mohs hardness is 7, which is hard for a natural stone or mineral. It has ample strength for everyday jewelry, though it can chip if rubbed against still-harder stones such as diamond or struck sharply.

Quartz generates a small electric charge under pressure and, conversely, vibrates at an extremely stable frequency when a voltage is applied — the piezoelectric effect. Because that vibration is so regular, a quartz oscillator is used as the reference frequency in watches, and underpins modern communications equipment and sensors.

As natural-stone jewelry, quartz is used for raw-stone earrings, necklaces, rings, brooches and ear cuffs. TROZO makes quartz jewelry that keeps the raw stone unpolished so its clarity and inclusions lead the design — both pieces you can choose by clarity and size from stock, and pieces where the meeting with the stone is left to chance.

It is found across the world — Brazil, Madagascar, the USA (Arkansas), Russia and the Himalayas among others. In Japan, rock crystal from Kofu (Yamanashi), Nakatsugawa (Gifu) and Kasugai (Aichi) is well known, and Kofu in particular has a long history as a center of crystal cutting.

Quartz is Mohs 7 and water-resistant, so it can be cleansed with water or running water. It works well with many methods — sunlight, moonlight, running water, sage smoke or resting on a quartz cluster — and has itself long been treated as a stone that cleanses other stones.