This spring, Gemlar founders, Nan Lung-Palmer and Kelly Selcer Phoundoulakis celebrated their 1 year anniversary of the launch of their crystal and mineral-inspired home decor and accessories company, “Elevate your home and spirit with art forged by nature” – as the Gemlar tagline reads, the founders created a niche that surprisingly had not previously existed, and was welcomed by the jewelry industry with open arms. “We launched with a B2C model and didn’t anticipate to expand into wholesale so quickly”, says Lung-Palmer, founder and CEO of Gemlar and seasoned merchandising consultant to the trade. Gemlar started as a subscription-based service encouraging the end customer to wholesale jewelry collect their own array of museum-caliber, palm-sized crystals and fossils for spiritual healing and home decor purposes.

During the Hard Rock Summit last fall, Gemlar’s palm-size specimens caught the attention of retailers wanting to incorporate mineral roughs and fossils as part of their visual merchandising directive that is turn key. For example, retailers are placing Gemlar’s 160,000,000 year old petrified wood specimen in their men’s jewelry and timepiece case as a conversation starter and Gemlar’s rich “Emerald Green” Fluorite to their May birthstone case. Their customers are also purchasing Gemlar’s minerals on their Lucite stand as gifts. “Our specimens create an effortless way for retailers to illustrate that close-knit relationship between roughs to fine gemstones and their customers are purchasing wholesale rings for emotional gifting and home decor purposes”, says Selcer, CMO of Gemlar.

To keep up with wholesale interest, Gemlar is now offering a premium line of specimens exclusively for jewelry retailers as a way to elevating their case line with vibrant colors, natural aesthetics, and intrigue. From Ruby in Zoisite mined near the base of Mount Kilimanjaro to fiery orange Spessartite Garnet in Matrix, this highly curated collection of museum-caliber specimens will not be available wholesale necklaces online. “We are especially proud to offer Rhodochrosite from The Sweet Home Mine, right here in our home state of Colorado”, says Selcer.

In addition to these gem-related roughs like Pyrite Sun from Sparta, Illinois to Midnight Tourmaline from Minas Gerais, Brazil, Gemlar has paired their specimens that are jewel-toned with whimsical names such as “Aquamarine Aragonite” from Souss-Massa-Draa, Morocco, and “Tanzanite Fluorite” from the Xia Yang Mine in China. The founders want to emphasize that it is a play on colors and serves as suggestions on pairing these specimens in retailers’ jewelry cases. Retailers who opt into their turn key specimen packages will also gain access to a cohesive selection of private label home accessories from Onyx bowls and table lamps to Ancient Orthoceras Cheese plate and Petrified Wood drink coasters.