An American Carver In China

Seattle Native Nathaniel Cook Receives a Special Invitation.

Cook is a relative newcomer to the jade-carving scene. At the age of 26, he is one of the youngest carvers ever to be invited to Zi Gang Bei and will be presenting alongside some of the best known jade carvers in the world.

He began working for jade mining company Washington Jade, a subsidiary of Bull Trout Jade LLC, in June 2012. The company harvests nephrite jade from deposits in Washington state’s Cascade Mountains. It has named several varieties of the stone: Evergreen Jade™, Blue Dream Jade®, Blue Chromoflec Nephrite Jade, Blue Ice Nephrite Jade, Green Sugar Nephrite Jade, and Vulcan Nephrite Jade. Cook began carving in the summer of 2013 as a means of showcasing the unique types of nephrite jade that Washington Jade had discovered in the Cascades, on federal land in the Devil’s Mountain Fault Zone.