Driving through the quiet streets of Swansea, you might not expect to discover a masterclass in an ancient artistry on West 3rd Street. 

Inside Lapidary Arts Workshop, students young and old can be found learning how to shape raw minerals using a myriad of tools. For owners Tom and Patricia Stidom, this multi-disciplinary studio isn’t just about crafting custom jewelry; they’re working to keep the fading tradition of gemstone faceting alive and accessible in the heart of rural Lexington County. 

Tom is a lifelong handyman in the sense that, according to his wife, if you want him to make you something, he’ll figure out how to do it. 

“Faceting is the art of bringing two planes together to create a prism,” he said. “Most of your facets [today] are done by machine… No human even touches it.”

Active members of the Columbia Gemstone and Mineral Society, Tom and Patricia have visited over 30 active mining sites across the country and consider themselves avid rockhounds. 

“A rockhound is a person that loves to go dig rocks,” he said. “There is no age limit.” 

After finding his first amethyst (the official state gemstone of South Carolina), Tom turned it into a ring for Patricia. 

“It wasn’t a perfect one. If you look at it, it’s not purple,” he said. “If you hold it up to the light… the light hits it and the whole stone will turn a lavender color.”

The stone's greatest imperfection, a visible crack with a tint of purple, proved to be its most beautiful feature. 

“I want to pass on what I’ve learned,” Tom said. “[It] may not be perfect but it’s something I want to pass on. It [doesn’t] have to be just young generations. If somebody comes in here 80 years old and wants to learn, I’ll teach them.”

The workshop includes a variety of custom and professional-grade equipment stations for getting creative, complete with personal safety equipment. 

Kids’ favorite attraction in the business is a raised dig pit for hunting buried 3D-printed dinosaur bones. 

Across from that is a fully functional flume.

“As far as I know, it’s the only indoor flume in the state,” Tom said, mentioning on a hot summer day in Lexington County that outdoor flumes are subject to the summer heat. “Where else can you sit down and go through a bucket of dirt and get to play in the water in air conditioning?”

Students and custom jewelry customers can choose from a selection of raw stones in the studio or bring in pieces they’ve found in their own rockhounding. One man requested for a piece of pine resin that his late dog once brought home from a walk be turned into a memorial charm. 

A woman in her 50s brought in two stones she had found at a flume in another state as a teenager; she wanted it turned into a necklace. 

Lapidary Arts Workshop, a business in which many of the Stidoms’ family members lend creative know-how, strives to keep the art alive through financial accessibility. 

"All my classes are half of what anybody else is charging, and one of the reasons behind the pricing for everything in the workshop is to [allow] the local people to be able, if they've got the passion, to do it.”

The retail side of the business also features a pay-it-forward donation program. 

“When people say, ‘Just keep the change,’ that goes into a donation pile,” Patricia said. “When they put something on their credit card, they'll say, ‘Put it with $2 over,’ [and] we can use that money for somebody in the community that might want to take one of our classes and can't afford it.”

The storefront side of the business is a highly diversified shop that offers everything from handcrafted decorations, jewelry and much more. There, Tom and Patricia work directly alongside their son Michael and his wife Karen. 

Lapidary Arts Workshop, new to Swansea in the last couple of months, offers an array of hands-on educational experiences, including classes in cabochon making, ring making with inlay gemstones, bracelet and necklace crafting, leather working, wood burning and faceting courses. Beyond its workshop curriculum, the storefront serves the community with professional custom jewelry design and features a curated selection of handmade goods from individual local vendors. The studio also provides specialized retail and commercial fabrication services, utilizing on-site capabilities for custom 3D printing orders and custom machine embroidery. 

Multiple downtown businesses are new to Swansea 

The lapidary workshop and storefront is one of quite a few new Swansea businesses, a rural Lexington County town with some long-vacant buildings. 

“There was a lot of bustling business here. It was really a high traffic community,” Joel Gordon, co-owner of the Kozy Kitchen cafe, said, adding that in its heyday, many residents considered Swansea—with its historic train stop and deep agricultural roots—a shining star of Lexington County. “So we're trying to get some of that back again.”

After opening the Kozy Kitchen in January 2025, a family-owned and operated American-style restaurant on South Monmouth Avenue, Gordon began connecting with local residents and business owners. 

“We learned that the town really needed some work,” he said. “I said this was a great opportunity to try and build the business community here in town. … There's growth here … become part of it.”

Development in Swansea took on new life in 2025, following the election of new town leaders and the formation of the Swansea Business Association that December, according to Gordon. 

“We've got about right now, probably about 10 total businesses that are involved,” Gordon, chairman of the association, said. 

Rotating between storefronts, monthly meetings allow association members to share ideas and talents. 

"We're working on a bunch of different projects to help build the town back [and] the business community in the area. … The businesses all try and support each other,” Gordon said. “We have a little thing going between the businesses here, where if you do business with one, you get discounts at the other one.”

Big Dog Barber Shop and Waymaker Plumbing are even newer than the lapidary business. 

“We are doing the ribbon cuttings for Big Dog Barber Shop and Waymaker Plumbing next Saturday, [June 27],” Gordon said. “So, we've got a lot of different things; we're looking to do an event every month, something of significance every month, just to try and get people interested.” 

Lapidary Arts Workshop is located at 280-290 West 3rd St. in Swansea. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays. Learn more at lapidaryartsworkshop.com. 

The Kozy Kitchen is located at 290 South Monmouth Ave. in Swansea. Its hours are as follows: Saturday and Sunday Breakfast 7 to 11 a.m.; Sunday Funday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; closed Mondays and Wednesdays. Learn more at thekozykitchenswansea.com. 

Big Dog Barbershop is located at 270 W 3rd St. in Swansea. It’s open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; closed Sundays and Mondays. Contact the business at 615-394-3375 or bigdogbarbershop88@gmail.com. Walk-ins are welcome.

Waymaker Plumbing is located at 260 W. 3rd St. in Swansea. Contact the business at 803-335-6039 and learn more at waymakerplumbingllc.com/home.