Oriental Way is an enterprise that produces a wide range of products from Russian jade

“Oriental Way” is a modern enterprise producing a wide range of products from Russian jade, which is mined in Buryatia. The company occupies a leading position in its segment. Svetlana Petrova, Head of the Development and Sales Department, spoke about the philosophy of jade and the features of the production process, the revival of stone-cutting art in Russia.

Please tell us about the history of the company.

We have a full-cycle enterprise, from the extraction of raw jade to the manufacture of finished products and their sale. In 2013, our business partners “Zabaikalskoye Mining Enterprise” (ZGRP) received a license for the extraction and exploration of white jade in the Kavoktinskoye deposit in the Bauntovsky district of Buryatia.

In general, 93% of all Russian jade is mined in Buryatia. And as for white jade, our deposit is unique, there are no analogues to it in the world. There are small deposits of white jade in China, but it is less dense, less viscous, and significantly inferior in characteristics to ours. The Kavoktinskoye deposit is identical to the Khotanskoye deposit in China, which has now dried up. It was the Khotan jade that was deeply revered for centuries, it was called the imperial stone, and an ordinary person did not even have the right to touch it, only the imperial family. And so it turns out that today the only deposit of such a unique stone remains in Buryatia.

In 2014, the Oriental Way Trading House was opened, the first factory in Russia for processing and enriching jade. Four years later, a third enterprise was opened, closing the full-cycle chain, which is engaged in the manufacture and sale of finished products. The work of the production workshop began in January 2019.

What did we start making?

Initially, we made mainly gross products. These are beads, solid bracelets made of stone. These are some souvenir products – whiskey cubes, balls on a stand – that is, what is produced in large batches and, in our opinion, will be in demand.

We mostly produce products from white jade, and several times less from green. Because green jade is not so revered, not so unique, there are enough of its deposits in the world – in Russia, Pakistan, Burma, China.

Since its launch, one of the main goals of the enterprise has been, of course, the revival of stone-cutting art, which has already been largely forgotten and lost. We began to look for local stone-cutting masters. It was difficult – this is not taught in the republic, so we looked for young creative guys, artists, jewelers who would be interested in learning the craft with us. At the factory, they started small, and today, a year and a half later, the stone-cutting guys are already working with stone, creating some unique handmade things.

Are all these things unique and made to order? Or is there a certain circulation of products?

We are happy to work on order and do it regularly. One of the latest, for example, is a statuette of the goddess of justice Themis. Our stone cutter created a human figure for the first time and, I think, it turned out great! Such works are quite an expensive pleasure. But connoisseurs, people who know and understand the philosophy of jade, appreciate it.

You mentioned the philosophy of jade. What is it? Is it different in Buryatia and China?

There is no Buryat philosophy as such, I only know that archaeological finds from the Stone and Iron Ages made of jade were discovered on our territory.

And the philosophy of stone is not only from China. Of course, we are all accustomed to the fact that for the Chinese jade is a national stone, revered for thousands of years. But it was also found among the Egyptian pharaohs. Tamerlane’s tombstone is made of jade, as is the sarcophagus of Alexander III. There is a famous jade Buddha in Thailand, the seal of Genghis Khan. And it was Faberge’s favorite stone, he made famous Easter eggs from it, among other things.

All these facts indicate that jade has always been considered a stone of the chosen ones, not for everyone. Only the powerful of this world could own it. In China, it is believed that jade absorbs all the energy of the earth. Why are products made of solid stone valued, and not composite ones? Because it is this one that gives the energy of the earth to its owner.

Are you connected to the markets of other countries?

Not yet – it so happened that we opened in 2019 and worked only a year before the pandemic. Therefore, for now, the company’s mission is to make Buryat jade a brand of the republic.