Meet the Owners of Forevergems - Sharon and Kobus Avenant
Who are we?
Just two people with a love for rocks, crystals, minerals and all things natural.
We started making our own gifts for family and friends about twelve years ago. Candles and jewellery later became our jewellery and mineral business. We started using plastic beads initially, then glass and finally gemstone beads. When working with various different gemstones we noticed that most were cold to the touch but they all seemed to have their own vibration. Only later when we started working with the actual stones and reading up did we discover the different properties stones have as well. We had so many beautiful necklaces and bracelets that we had to start selling at markets. We started doing one market and then extending to three namely Franschhoek Market, Blaauwklippen Family Market and Root 44 Market. Over Christmas we can do up to 40 markets in the month of December.
Very nervously we included small amounts of sterling silver jewellery to our range and have never looked back. Our range was soon also extended to include rocks, minerals, crystals and fossils as well. Seven years ago we opened our beautiful shop in Franschhoek. At the shop we sell a variety of items including our very popular klippie box. This box is filled with colourful stones that attracts old and young. We have big specimens and rare collectors’ items that are not easy to transport to the markets. We sell sterling silver jewellery, gemstone jewellery and our handmade jewellery and scarves.
The shop has a beautiful energy and is very welcoming and inviting. We call it our happy place. We love sharing in your journey with crystals and will assist and guide you if we can. We trade at various markets and love working with enquiring little people. We have been privileged to make friends with people from all over the world.
Kobus is the practical one and reads up in great detail on many subjects. He is a mine of information and somehow remembers everything. I call him the pied piper when it comes to little children. They find him fascinating and talks on a level that they understand and often they are started on a geological journey. In the same breath he will tell you all about bismuth or exactly how big a Megladon Shark was! When he has time he loves to create interesting pieces of jewellery or create a cabochon from a stone lying around.
Sharon is the crazy crystal lady - more often than not with blue or purple hair. I love people and animals and care deeply about their welfare. I forget the names of stones and never remember all their properties but you will get the gist of what I mean…….. My passion for people and the need to create a kinder world has helped me to be able to advise you regarding crystals you might need. I also love assisting you in selecting a beautiful gift from our range of jewellery and scarves.
Recently we have started including short courses on how to choose your crystals, how to clean your crystals, what to do with your crystals. We noticed these questions coming up more and more and realized the need and desire for people to learn more about crystals. We ourselves are constantly learning and so often learn more from our students than they from us.......
When we have a chance we love going on road trips to admire, investigate and learn about rock formations and fossil tours. We don't believe in keeping any of this information to ourselves so we share often.
Six months ago we joined the online shopping movement. In doing so we have reached a much wider audience and are so grateful to all of you that have supported us. We try to ensure that we have stock that is constantly changing and always something new for you to look at. We keep the old favourites and add as often as we can. If you are looking for something specific we will try to find it for you.
We are always open to suggestions and ideas. We encourage you to make contact with us.
Our belief is that stones come from a place of love and we want to share this with everybody.