Our retailing activities in Tanzania
For many years, our only activity was wholesaling. To professionals, we would either export sorted rough gems or gemstones cut in our workshop. We occasionally also sold cut gems to private people who lived in East Africa.
From the mid-nineties, tanzanite was becoming increasingly popular in countries such as the USA and South Africa. Quite a few tourists on safari considered that buying a tanzanite in Arusha (Tanzania) - approximately 40 kilometers away from the world's only deposit - was a wise thing to do. However, many tourists came back home with tanzanites which were often badly cut, flawed, poorly saturated or simply not tanzanite (iolite, glass, plastic, synthetic forsterite etc).
When safari companies realized what was going on, we were contacted in order to sell certified gemstones to their guests. These safari companies were obviously fed up with their customers buying gems (or so-called gems) in the wrong places.
One of the high-end companies printed brochures which warned their guests : "As a result purchasing what are often high value items must be done only from reliable, vetted outlets. In Arusha we recommend one source which is reliable and offers very competitive prices. Swala Gem Traders is not a shop but a wholesale trader and export organization which has a wide range of cut and uncut Tanzanites and other stones that may be bought."
If ever you have the opportunity to travel to this beautiful country, feel free to visit us. We will not only show you loose gems but also jewelry; tanzanite but also many other East African gems (which you can also see and buy on this website).
Our workshop
We cut stones to satisfy the needs of dealer, jeweler or individual buyer. We always have a large variety of beautiful cut stones available.
We occasionally buy cut gems but almost all the cut stones that we sell have been cut in our own workshop. Our head cutter has been with us for almost ten years. Unlike many local cutters, he masters his art and is capable of custom-cutting stones to your personal requirements. Whether classic or more modern cuts: cushion, emerald cut, step cut, princess, trillion, oval, brilliant...
Our cutting is traditional and of excellent quality. Our cutting is high end. We thus concentrate on cutting expensive gems. We do not cut all our expensive rough; however, we never cut the cheaper ones such as red garnets (which we export as rough only). As an example, the gems that are cut in our workshop also end up in jewelry sold Place Vendome in Paris (home of the most exclusive jewelers in the world).
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Our retailing activities are based in Arusha and in Dar-es-Salaam at the following locations: - in Arusha, at the Arusha Hotel - in Dar-es-Salaam, at the Royal Palm Moevenpick hotel We are the Ambassador to Tanzania for the International Colored gemstone Association (ICA) and will issue certificates of authenticity. |
