Our Story
A brand born from the mountains of Barahona and the hands of the people who know this stone best.
The mines of Barahona
High in the Sierra de Bahoruco mountains of the Dominican Republic, there is a mine unlike any other in the world. It is the only place on Earth where Larimar — a rare blue stone formed by ancient volcanic activity — is found. The men who work it go deep into the earth every day, with their hands and their knowledge, pulling something irreplaceable into the light.
My father was one of those men.
He was a miner and an artisan. He knew Larimar the way only someone who has spent years underground can know it — by its weight, its color, the way it responds to different tools. He taught me everything. How to read the stone. How to shape it. How to see what it could become.
"Every Larimar stone is a piece of this island. When you wear one, you carry something that took millions of years and one family's hands to reach you."
A legacy that demanded to continue
My father died in a collapse in the Larimar mine. He left behind his craft, his knowledge and a deep love for the stone. LARIMARÉ is built on everything he gave me.
I created this brand because I believe Larimar deserves to be seen the way we see it — not as a souvenir, not as a commodity, but as something rare and beautiful that connects the person wearing it to a very specific place and story.
Most Larimar sellers operate without a real identity. The photography is poor. The presentation is generic. The story is invisible. I wanted to change that — to build a brand that reflects the actual quality and meaning of this stone.
That is LARIMARÉ.
What is Larimar?
Larimar is a rare blue silicate mineral — a variety of pectolite found only in the Dominican Republic. Its scientific name is sodium calcium silicate hydroxide, but what matters is simpler: it looks like the Caribbean Sea frozen in stone.
The blue color is caused by trace amounts of cobalt replacing calcium in the mineral structure. The specific conditions that created it — volcanic activity, heat, pressure, time — exist in only one place on Earth, the Filipinas mine in Barahona.
The name "Larimar" was given in 1974 by Miguel Méndez, who named it after his daughter Larissa and the Spanish word for sea — mar. Though local people had known of the stone for centuries, it was only officially registered as a new mineral in the 1970s.
Larimar comes in a spectrum of blues — from deep, saturated ocean turquoise to pale sky blue and cloud-white patterns. No two stones are identical. The patterns you see — swirling whites, deep veins of blue — are formed by volcanic gases and minerals moving through the stone over millions of years.
It has a Mohs hardness of 4.5–5, which makes it suitable for jewelry but also means it requires care. We treat every stone with the respect it deserves, from the mine to the finished piece.
Because it is found in only one location and the mine is finite, Larimar is becoming increasingly rare. The pieces we make today carry the weight of that scarcity — which is part of what makes them worth keeping.
Our values
Authenticity
Every stone we sell is genuine Larimar from Barahona. We source directly and can provide provenance documentation for wholesale orders. We will never sell imitations.
Craft
Our jewelry is made by hand. This is not a marketing phrase — it means each piece takes time, skill and attention that a factory cannot replicate. The irregularities are part of the point.
Transparency
We are honest about what Larimar is, where it comes from and what differentiates qualities. We classify our stones clearly so you know exactly what you are buying.
Explore the collection
Everything we make carries this story. Explore our jewelry and stones, or contact us directly.