Jade-Carvings.com is a subsidiary of Banker Enterprises, owned by Thomas E. Banker. Banker started his career in colored gemstones in 1972 when he was traveling throughout Southeast Asia, Africa and Brasil on a sailing yacht.

During this 6-year circumnavigation he spent much of his time working with, learning about and pursuing business opportunities in all aspects of colored gemstones; including mining, cutting and sales.

In 1976 he founded Natural Arts in California, for the purpose of trading and marketing colored gemstones. This company became well known in the American market as a supplier and merchandiser of high quality gem material.

With Natural Arts, Banker lived for six years in Brasil and became fluent in the Portuguese language. There he worked closely with all levels of gemstone production including mining, cobbing, sawing, preforming and faceting of gem rough.

Natural Arts became proficient in the field of gemstone color enhancement through various combinations of irradiation and heat. They were the first in the world to produce and market "Swiss Blue" topaz on a large scale. Since that time "Swiss Blue" topaz has become a strong staple of the jewelry industry.

In 1987 Banker established GemEssence in Bangkok, Thailand, to bring a new level of precision cutting and customer service to the Thailand colored-gemstone market, in competition with what the German cutting companies had been doing for the past 3 decades.

Within 10 years GemEssence grew from startup to a production, administration and sales staff comprising a total of 250 people, providing one of the major and most highly respected colored gemstone lapidaries and wholesalers in Bangkok.

With Banker's direction, the firm earned a reputation for fine quality calibrated gemstones, offering German-style precision-cut goods at prices reflecting the price advantage of Asian labor.

Banker and GemEssence also became internationally renowned for its uniquely attractive special cuts, which were produced in standard sizes and high volume. This fancy-cut line achieved the difficult objective of reproducing German quality at affordable prices.

In February 1999 Banker had a very serious automobile accident at the world famous Tucson Mineral and Gem Show. He was almost killed, was in a coma for 6 weeks and in hospitals for rehabilitation therapy for another 4 months.

As a result of the massive medication he was given in the hospital, he went deaf 2 weeks after he woke up from the coma.

Since then he returned to Bangkok, turned over GemEssence to his Thai partners and resumed his original business, Banker Enterprises. Just before the turn of the century, he started a unique stone carving business, Jade-Carvings.com, utilizing occidental subject matter and contracting master carvers to do his work in the north of Thailand.

Once again, same as with GemEssence, Banker is reproducing German quality hand-made sculpture masterpieces at affordable Asian labor prices.

In addition, he continues utilizing his extensive experience and contact network around the globe to establish an active business in the production and trading of high quality facetted gemstones.