GemologyGeek debuts Ignite collection, 35 gemstone pieces celebrating confidence

A gemologist’s eye changes everything. In Erica Silverglide’s first finished fine jewelry collection, Ignite, stones are not just selected for sparkle, but for how they move, sit, pair, and reveal themselves on the body, from no-heat aquamarines to hidden flashes of fluorescence.

GemologyGeek, Silverglide’s educational platform and colored gemstone shop, debuted the 35-piece collection at the Out of the Jewel Box Experience in Tucson, a smaller, more curated counterpoint to the city’s sprawling gem-show circuit. The 2026 event ran February 4 to 7 at the Tucson Scottish Rite Cathedral, 160 S. Scott Avenue, and opened with Cocktails at the Cathedral on February 4. Alongside GemologyGeek, the exhibitor list included Renisis, Atelier Zobel, Moyo Gems, Integrity Gems, Rémy Rotenier, Sorbet Sapphire, Swedish Gem Group, PCD Pearls, Gold and Smoke, Willow Diamonds and Renata Cambauva Jewelry.

Silverglide’s background helps explain why Ignite feels engineered as much as it is adorned. She describes herself as founder-CEO, creative director, content manager, photographer, writer, graduate gemologist, designer, Gemacation creator, gemstone buyer, lecturer, interviewer and gemstone broker. She also has a BFA in Metals & Jewelry Design from Savannah College of Art and Design, a Graduate Gemologist diploma from the Gemological Institute of America and a CAD certificate from the Fashion Institute of Technology. That mix shows up in the collection’s structure, which favors handmade baskets matched to stone faceting, hinged links and interchangeable parts over static ornament.

The most immediately inventive example is the Shooting Star earring pair. Cast in 14-karat white gold with rhodium plating, the design uses 3.34 total carats of no-heat kite-cut aquamarines from Madagascar and 0.55 carats of baguette French-cut diamonds. The kite shape gives the aquamarines a sharp, architectural profile, while the French-cut diamonds add a clean, geometric edge. The earrings can be worn on either ear or together on one ear, a detail that turns a statement jewel into something more personal and less precious in the stiff, old-fashioned sense.

The Eloise ring takes a different route through color. Set in 18-karat rose gold, it pairs matched pink sapphires with a rainbow moonstone from Madagascar and diamond accents. The warm gold and pink palette softens the ring, while the moonstone introduces a cooler, luminous center that keeps the composition from becoming sugary. It is the kind of color balancing a gemologist can do with confidence because she understands not only hue, but cut, transparency and light return.

Fluorescence threads through much of Ignite, and Silverglide has said she first became fascinated with it in gemology school. She notes that fluorescence is not limited to blue and can appear in red, orange, green, purple and pink. In her hands, it becomes more than a mineral property: it is a hidden feature, a private signal of inner confidence. Ignite lands on Silverglide’s idea of “lighting that power in you,” and that is what makes the collection feel distinct in Tucson’s crowded week of jewels.