What does a man give to his love when he proposes?

When a man proposes to his lady, he usually chooses a diamond ring.

Why?

Diamond is not only shiny but also durable. Its purity, durability and sparkle conveyed a meaning that a diamond is forever. It is implying that his love for her is forever.

But there is another message that I personally endorse. It is about how a diamond is created.

“Pressure”

Without pressure, there would be no diamonds. Without pressure, carbon cannot transmute to diamond.

When there is no pressure, there is no great.

To me, this message is very compelling.

Because when you are in love, everything is beautiful You overcome challenges. But once you are married, life sometimes gets you. When facing pressure from life, we must adapt and keep going. It will be worth it in the end.

What a meaningful gift that a man can give to his love.

What does a lady give her love? 

So if you are a lady, I have a question for you.

How do you feel about the diamond message: if there is no pressure, there will be no great?

Usually, a man wears a plain platinum, gold or silver ring because diamond is for the lady. But what if you want something equally meaningful, something that also turns great when facing pressure.

You may answer wine because grapes are crushed to make wine. Without pressure, there will be no fine wine.

But there is another material which can be made a unique bracelet for him. It also carries an inspirational message: winner thrives under pressure.

Let me introduce to you.

Agarwood, a champion under stress

Aquilaria trees

Walk with me to our plantation, where we have been planting one hundred ninety thousand Aquilaria trees.

Among these trees, my brother usually picks a tree or two to make Agarwood beads.

This tree for example

On the surface, this tree looks healthy. Its leaves are green; its body is thick with many small branches.

But if you look closely at its body, you would see there are some damages.

When we scraped away its bark the surface, you will see some part of the wood stands out, especially those around the damaged area.

It has a dark brown colour. These are Agarwood.

How do you create Agarwood?  

Carbons require certain conditions to turn into diamonds; one of them was high pressure ( (Hobart M King, NA).

Similarly, whitewood from the Aquilaria trees is healthy wood. But nobody wants it because it has little value.

But when it is wounded, this whitewood will transmute to resin wood, known as Agarwood. You can see the below image; the tree creates Agarwood around the holes.

These particular holes are the wounds inflicted by drilling. 

We create Agarwood by giving the tree “pressure” and “pain”.

By “attacking” them and infecting them CONSTANTLY

Why?

Many of us get complacent when they achieve a small success. They stop trying and this is why don’t improve much.

And just like a human, a tree can get “complacent” when it heals its wound. When it is healthy, there is no Agarwood.

Complacency is what we don’t want. 

So

We have to put this tree under pressure by constantly attacking them.

How do we do that?

We can keep drilling holes on the tree bodies.

But drilling million holes are not easy tasks. 

That is when scientists came in. They studied how Agarwood formed in the wild and discovered a specific type of ants that could speed up the Agarwood creation process.

And these ants are not any ordinary ants.

Because

They know how to grow their own food which is fungi. The bigger the best, the more fungi the ants grow. 

And these fungi are living on the tree’’s nutrition like parasites.

As you can see, the tree is continuously under attack. And because of that reason, it constantly defends itself by creating Agarwood.

Some trees crumble and die during this process, especially they are not mature enough.

The one that survives will make Agarwood.

The longer the fight, the more Agarwood it has.

Without pressure, there is no diamond.

Without pain, there is, no Agarwood.

Agarwood beads

To make a sphere bead.

From the wood logs, we cut them into multiple square cubes.

Then with the help of a grinding machine, we make a sphere shape out of each cube. This process is usually done by hand because Agarwood is soft. Using a tool to “sphere” the beads may crack them.

With wild Agarwood, sometimes, the material is too small to make sphere beads, or maybe someone wants agarwood cylinder bead instead.

Now you know how we made Agarwood beads.

So, let’s move to the next question.

How to choose your Agarwood beads?

It depends on what you like.

Mainly you will see two types of grains (bead patterns)

The classic pattern

Classic pattern: Cultivated Agarwood

Classic Pattern: Wild Agarwood

Tigerskin and marble pattern 

Most of the time, you can only see this type of pattern in the wild Agarwood

Marble pattern

The pattern is from the wild Agarwood, for example.

You may ask which one should you choose.

It depends on many factors.

Budget

If you have a set budget, you may consider cultivated Agarwood beads. People believe that cheaper beads are usually less quality. But this belief is not always right.

For example

Please see the image below, the texture of the wild beads are lighter than the cultivated ones, yet they cost more to buy 

Uniqueness

If you collect Agarwood beads, you will go for the wild because these are rare. It is a  one-off deal usually. Beads with unique pattern (or grains) per below are well-sought after. It is challenging to find the same one twice.

Gemstone

If you like gemstones and want to design your own bracelet or necklace, you may consider both depending on the design. Below are ours using our own plantation (cultivated) Agarwood beads.

I hope this article helps you to select the right Agarwood beads.

So lady, after learning about this organic gemstone, I believe you have a good idea of returning your man favour when he gifts you a diamond ring.

Let me know how it goes.