The story
Time made the color.
We were lucky to find it.
Natural solid Australian opal, cut at our family bench and set by trusted hands.
Step 01
Selection & sourcing
Every opal is hand-selected in person: first-generation field knowledge. Sometimes it arrives as rough, sometimes already shaped; either way, it's chosen by eye to ensure its quality.
Step 02
Cutting & shaping
If it arrives as rough, it's cut and shaped at our own bench by the Maker. They watch the stone become itself, deciding where the colour lives and where each edge falls to enhance its natural beauty.
Step 03
Setting
Set by hand, one opal at a time (no machines, no production line), with the metalwork finished to match the stone it holds. This part is mostly outsourced to the same trusted craftsperson, every time.
Opalani started with Pop. He passed his love for opal on to my dad, who passed it on to me: three generations of Australian opal cutters, one obsession.
The rough isn’t always bought at the fields ourselves; sometimes it comes from other Australian miners and trusted traders. But every stone is always selected and cut by us, in Australia, so we know exactly what we’re selling: solid natural opal, never a doublet, never a triplet. Setting is the one part we hand over, to a trusted craftsperson who shares the same standard.
Being the opal cutter as well as the seller is the whole point. I buy the rough on risk, I find out what’s inside it on the wheel, and I can answer the three questions that matter — is it solid, what’s the body tone, where was it mined — about every stone here without looking anything up. That’s written out properly in the Lightning Ridge guide, and the price side of it in what black opal costs.
I live in Hawai’i now (my new home), and Opalani is how I bring the joy and beauty of Australian opal to the US.
Meet the team.
The Expert
First generation
The Maker
Second generation
The Seller
Third generation