My name is Rafael Montealegre and I am the creator and founder of ELEMENT EARTH.
Natural Gemstone beads have an amazing aura and physical beauty and are like little works of art, nature’s objet d’ art. Whether for adornment or spiritual healing, or both, even the simplest beads, made of shell, seeds, bone, clay or glass, are still so powerful because they tell us an earthly story about ourselves. But beyond the physical beauty of natural gemstones, a lot of people believe including myself that natural gemstones have a metaphysical or spiritual beauty and even power that is beneficial and healing, and if blessed by our spiritual leaders become sacred power objects as with the Mala bracelet and necklace, the Shamballa bracelet, the Tasbih, the Rosary, and other spiritual beads. The natural gemstone Zircon, is almost as old as the earth itself and when I wear zircon I cannot help but feel its enormous energy and all that history, which is like earth’s time capsule.
My memories of stringing hippie beads as a child with my parents who were trying to open their own pottery shop at the time, is what brought me here to this sort of full circle moment I guess. But what I know now, what is really important, is that I strive to be a positive and creative energy force for our earth. I became interested in art, photography and film and ended up traveling around the world photographing my travels and later graduating from Parsons School of Design in New York City.
Now at ELEMENT EARTH I seek to create beautiful and fine handcrafted gemstone bracelet jewelry by using the finest natural gemstones, precious metals, and materials. Our gemstones are handpicked for color, clarity, and cut for our bracelet designs, which are meticulously hand strung on professional grade 49 strand nylon coated stainless steel beading wire, which gives superior strength, softness, and flexibility to the bracelet. Our bracelets are finished with only pure Sterling Silver and 18k Gold clasps, and even the tiniest of the detail bracelet metal findings are pure gold or silver. Our bracelets are fine jewelry and should be cared for as you would anything that was meant to be cherished and last for a long time.