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Where did this year go?  It seems that just a few days ago I was sitting in my office reflecting on what was 2012 and what we can look forward to in 2013.  Well, here we are again looking at a brand new year filled with the promise of excitement, newness, and growth.  So, with a brand new blank calendar on my wall, allow me to reflect back on a few of our highlights from what was 2013!

2013 was another year filled with travels to Hong Kong, Tahiti, the Philippines, and all over the US.  A year filled with plans for infusing new ideas in to our collections and building on the ideas from 2012.  Our mission has always been to bring you gemstones that feature unique characteristics with high quality and craftsmanship.  Our collection has always featured gems that we love as a family.  From jade and pearls, to opals and garnets, we have always sought out quality through character and emphasized education and understanding to showcase the uniqueness of each gem.  We sought to not only bring in some new perspectives and design elements in the form of color stones, but to also further showcase where we believe the best pearls come from and feature the dedication of those who produce them and their partnership with our family.

2013 saw the additions of colored stones such as Australian opals, Sleeping Beauty turquoise, garnet, blue topaz, tanzanite, citrine, and labradorite.  While you may have seem some of these stones as accents in the past, we brought these stones to you for the first time as feature gems by way of our facebook page and through design collaborations with my good friend and fellow rock hound Paul Deasy.

To build on our co-brand that we introduced 2 years ago with Robert Wan, we wanted to focus more on the idea of pearls sourced only from specific farmers in the respective regions where they started culturing their unique type of pearl.  As a result, 2013 saw the introduction of the Palawan Golden South Sea pearl sourced 100% from the Philippine farms spread throughout the province of Palawan and the Australian South Sea pearl.

Much like the addition of Robert Wan pearls, Australian South Sea and Palawan pearls, brings to focus the mind-set exhibited from the top farmers in the world to preserving the art of pearling, sustainable farming, and quality through needed care and dedication at all levels of farming.

As we look to 2014, one of the things to look out for this year will be an expansion of our website www.kwancolections.com.  This expansion will bring new opportunities to purchase exclusive pieces from our collection and see new designs unfold as we receive our special harvests and seek to introduce new ideas in to our collection as well as more blog posts to give you up to date information on the newest trends and more educational stories about our gems.  As with 2013, this year will be very busy as we will be on a constant quest to seek out the gems that we all love and to continue bringing to life the stories of those who dedicate themselves to producing them for us to enjoy.

These are just a few of the highlights from a very busy 2013!  2014 promises to bring us more excitement and newness.  As we celebrate not only our 38th year in business, but also our 20th anniversary of our collection on Shop HQ we are excited to see what the new year will bring to us.  One thing is for certain as we look to celebrate these milestones.  We could not have done this without all of you.  Thank you all for allowing us to do what we love.  With that, we bid adeau to 2013 and welcome in the new with 2014!

Happy new year from the Kwan Family to all of you!!!