Photo: From the Instagram page of Ryan Ross
Ryan Ross, the owner of a gemstone and jewelry manufacturing company called 3 Sisters Gemstones in Saskatoon, has made it to the semi-finals in the Pow Wow Pitch competition for the third time.
“It’s an exciting time for my business because we’re going through a rebrand,” said Ross. “We’re headed in a way that reflects our true Indigenous roots and also our commitment to craftsmanship.”
The business is named after his three daughters.
“It also reflects the Indigenous 3 sisters’ teachings of strength, balance and growth together,” said Ross, a member of Montreal Lake Cree Nation.
During COVID-19, Ross was working at the Dakota Dunes Casino when he first came across a gemstone cutters page on Instagram.
“I just fell in love with how every stone that the person cut had a reflection and a design,” said Ross.
After being laid off from his job, he purchased a gemstone machine from India and had it shipped to Canada.
Ross spent the next few years learning the art of gemstone cutting from books, YouTube and from a lapidarist in the United States.
He does not have a storefront but rather works from his home workshop to keep costs down.
“My favourite stone would be the sapphire. It comes in every colour of the rainbow,” said Ross. “You can think of not jus the standard blue, they also have colour changing ones which are rare and when you walk outside in the sunlight it turns to red or green.”
He said may be the only Indigenous lapidarist in Canada that specializes in precision cut gemstones and handcrafted jewelry.
“I would like to have more Indigenous representation in the gemstone and fine jewelry industry,” said Ross. “I would love to help change that by sharing our knowledge, by creating more opportunities and inspiring others to get involved.”
Ross offers classes for gemstone cutting and wire wrapping.
He uses an AutoCAD program to design his pieces.
“I don’t cut for weight or size, I cut for design reflection and colour,” said Ross. “My favourite would be the pixel cut because it looks like pixels.”
Ross said the vision for the business is to focus on growing inventory and building strong wholesale partnerships and offering more workshops.
If he wins Pow Wow Pitch this year, Ross said, “That would be huge. It would help launch forward my business even more because we are going full-time this year.”
You can contact or learn more about 3 Sisters Gemstones on Instagram and TikTok.