No sign but worth the search

Dean and Kathy Briske’s impressive Jade Princess stone workshop is about 1,000 feet past the IGA Grocery at Nugent’s Corner on the south side of the Mt. Baker Highway just east of the Nooksack River bridge.

“We don’t have a sign,” said Dean Briske, saying that his store could be a retail version of the barefoot shoemaker’s kids, “so you have to look for our mailbox, 3813. I’ve been trying to get to that sign for 15 years but I’ve been so busy,” he laughed, adding that it was 15 years ago that they opened the business.

The Briskes work mostly in Nephrite Jade from Dease Lake, B.C., 1500 road miles north of their shop, residence and retail store. Nephrite Jade is a fibrous mineral distantly related to asbestos but is very hard. It’s the state stone of Alaska, mined on the shores of the Bering Sea near Kobuk, and of British Columbia.

They also work in other stone material, including Olivine that comes from the largest outcropping of mantle rock in the western hemisphere, the Twin Sisters range just south of Mt. Baker.

Their products include art pieces, tabletops, lampshades and nearly indestructible countertops. “It’s tough, and can take heat and so on,” Briske said, “as long as you keep it sealed, which is easy to do every couple of years.”

Their showroom is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday but Briske said that if you’re in the area you can try their phone to see if they’re home. For more information contact the Briskes at 360/592-1317, or go to www.princessjade.com.