“Semi-precious and precious stones that I find, collect, process and sell are: chalcedony, agate, jasper, carnelian, amethyst, rock crystal (quartz crystal), petrified wood, and at the moment I am primarily focusing on the northwest part of the country. I have worked for 17 years as an amateur and now as a professional, as the owner of my AHAT crafts. In the long term, I am planning to extend my research towards Western Slavonia and central Croatia, where I’m expecting a huge potential of new sites of extremely beautiful and varied semi-precious and precious stones”, explains Goran Hrestak, adding that for successful acquisition of the stones, geographical, relief and geological maps should be studied, as well as the relevant literature and the inevitable field work.

Of semi-precious and precious stones, he makes jewellery, pearls, individual pieces of polished decorative stones, pouches of crystal blends, stones for mineralogical collections. “Customers can view my Facebook profile where they can find all my posts about Croatian semi-precious and precious stones, fieldwork, activities and interviews. Also, I participate in specialized fairs such as Mineral Expo in Zagreb, Mineral Fair and Crystal Fair in Lepoglava, Zaprešić Fair Trade Fair.

Buyers can contact me at my email goranhrestak659@gmail.com, or cell phone 0917913291 or we can arrange meeting in Brdovec”, he mentions.

To create a piece of jewellery it takes more than a month. Goran Hrestak explains the process in detailed steps: “I first clean the stones, wash them and sort them by types. The chosen stone is first brazed and polished with diamond cutters or polished in a vibration drum. The processing in a pulse vibration drum lasts for longer than 30 days. The individual treatment depends on the type and size of the stone, and often lasts seven days or more. The stone is handled by hand with the abrasive tool, then is washed individually and at the end, the metal shackles or buckles are incorporated.”

From Goran’s experience, each stone is unique, which means that each customer can choose an item that is unique to their taste. “Clients are often pleasantly surprised with the fact that Croatia has semi-precious and precious stones and that someone professionally works in this field in Croatia. It’s a pleasure for them to buy and own something like this “.

Goran Hrestak, through his crafts, presents a uniquely permanent value in the form of semi-precious and precious stones from Croatia, which are hidden and unknown to many. “I personally wish to explore, to find new sites with semi-precious and precious stones in Croatia, to familiarize the local and world public with our work and the value that our homeland has. My wish is to adopt new knowledge, techniques of treating semi-precious and precious stones while simultaneously improving and developing the craft of AHAT.”