Ginger and Roger Dery…

Ginger and Roger Dery have a passion for colored stones, and a desire to partner with retailer jewelers that wish to ignite that same passion in their customers!

Roger has been in the colored stone business for 26 years. His fascination with color began on a three-month journey to Europe, Egypt, India and Sri Lanka in 1981. He was hooked and has been ever since! In the early years, Roger operated as a general colored stone dealer carrying calibrated goods.

In the 80's, Roger recognized the importance of industry education. He was instrumental in bringing gemological classes for jewelers to Michigan on a regular basis. In addition, he was part of an industry consortium that developed a four-year jewelry arts degree program at Kendall College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

For Roger, the more he learned, he became intrigued by the cuts of various stones and the way they reflected light. No longer was he content with your average, everyday stones! The hunt for the unusual was on!!

In the 90's Roger was involved in a project with the government of Namibia that would promote jobs for the Namibian people by developing a gem cutting facility. This once in a lifetime opportunity led to many contacts that would be important in his faceting career.

Roger considers himself a purist. He admires the classic cuts. His favorite stone is sapphire, a rich cornflower blue, in an antique cushion. He loves to re-design a classic cut and make it come alive! His desire is to facet fabulous gems that will inspire the creation of heirloom jewelry that will be part of someone's legacy.

While he reveres the classics, Roger is also enamored with unusual gem materials. He enjoys cutting the traditional sapphire, aquamarine and garnet. But his passion is working with the out-of-the-ordinary. Some of his favorites are: golden beryl, kunzite, danburite, iolite, the many colors of zircon and orthoclase, to name a few. In fact, it was his 14.22-carat radiant-style square emerald cut golden scapolite that won an AGTA Cutting Edge award in 2007.

In 2004, Roger and Ginger were invited to be the dealer for a Gemstone Roundtable at Christopher's Fine Jewelry in Champaign, Illinois. For eighteen years Christopher's has conducted Roundtable events for their customers. Wow, it was an awesome experience! The Roundtable seemed like New Year's Eve! The staff was working, but really, the gemstones sold themselves and the customers sold each other! Thus began a new phase in Roger's business.

As for Ginger, she has a background in sales. Most recently she sold high-end women's custom clothing. For three consecutive years, Ginger was in the top ten for sales nationally. She brings a love of color, clothing and gemstones to the table!

Ginger and Roger enjoy partnering with retail jewelers to create extraordinary events! Together, they travel the U.S. and Canada performing Gemstone Roundtables. They like to share their stories and their gems! They love color and love working with customers that love color too!