Diamond School

A black outline illustration of a pear shaped diamond. A pear shape can come in multiple cuts and number of facets.

A black outline illustration of a marquise shaped diamond. A marquise shape can come in multiple cuts and number of facets

A black outline illustration of a trillion shaped diamond. A trillion shape has 50 facets.

A black outline illustration of an emerald-cut diamond. An Emerald cut diamond has 57 facets.

A black outline illustration of an emerald-cut diamond. An Emerald cut diamond has 57 facets.

A black outline illustration of a baguette-cut diamond. A Baguette cut diamond has 14 facets.

A black outline illustration of a cushion shaped diamond. A cushion shape has 58 facets

A black illustration of a round rose-cut diamond. A rose cut diamond typically has 4-29 facets.

Pure symmetry and perfect simplicity—round is the most popular diamond shape. Within this cut, the allure of time: choose between Modern Round Brilliant (MRB), a cut created after 1945 which features 58 uniform facets, perfected with technology to optimize the prismatic qualities of the diamond. Or if you prefer pre-war provenance or a more subtle shimmer, there is the Old European Cut (OEC)—antique hand-cut diamonds whose sparkle subtly reflects the individual artistry of the cutter in each facet.

Champagne diamonds, though romantically named for the bubbly elixir, are in reality color graded on a spectrum of brown. The C scale, similar to the D-Z of white and off-white, goes from C1 to C8, where C1 is the lightest, most faint color and C8 is the deepest, most saturated. The beautiful part of the champagne category is that the hues vary, from what we affectionately call vanilla creme soda to darker shades more like root beer. Some stones even have a peachy cast, resembling the subtle sparkle of pink champagne. Each is unique in this combination of hues; we love the look of these diamonds set with tonal rose gold.

When it comes to grey diamonds, the range is so beautiful and varied that only nature could have created them. On one end of the spectrum is the rare (and expensive) Fancy Grey diamond, displaying a perfect harmony of color with high clarity. On the other are the highly included and utterly unique stones we often refer to as hazy or smoky—also known as salt-and-pepper diamonds—exhibiting soft cloud-like inclusions. A faceted diamond with a lustrous opacity—smooth and evenly distributed within the stone—along with a beautiful surface polish is what we look for in the hazy grey diamonds we use.

Even something as simple as black in the world of diamonds becomes wonderfully diverse. We work with two types of black diamond: natural (included and irregular in appearance) and heat-treated (uniform in pitch), each captivating in their own, unusual way. The placement and density of feathers, wisps and speckles in natural black diamonds can give their appearance a painterly quality, like ink swirled in water, or an infinite depth, which we named “galaxy diamonds.” Whether opaque or varied, each is a tiny masterpiece of the earth.

When it comes to the spectrum of white diamonds, the grading system created by the GIA lays out color on a scale of D-Z, with the rarest and most colorless in the D-F range, and the darkest earning a Z. Our selection of white diamonds sits on the scale from G (near colorless, and lovely when set in colored gold) to a perfect D. It’s worth a note that with stones graded from L,M,N and onwards, oftentimes spectacular color emerges!

Black diamonds are naturally denser, and they are often cut to maximize the weight of the material from which the stone is rendered, which doesn’t impact quality since they need not reflect light from within. These stones are deeper and heavier in proportion, so a 1ct black diamond will look smaller than its counterpart in white or off-white.

As with rose cuts, what you see from above can look like a lot more diamond than what the carat weight suggests. This is due to the shallow parts of the cut, revealed in the underside or pavilion of the stone.

Sapphires come in a wide range of colors, and each of these has its own quality variation whether blue, pink, purple, yellow, green, orange, or padparadscha, which is a salmon color. Depth of color has the most important influence on a blue sapphire’s value. Sapphires having a strong to vivid velvety-blue color saturation are most coveted, but with saturation too intense, depth of color compromises the brightness. Blue sapphires with extremely high clarity are rare and very valuable. Several types of inclusions are found in sapphires. Among these are long thin mineral inclusions called needles; fine needles are called silk when they occur as the mineral rutile in intersecting groups.

The most prized color for a ruby is a vivid crimson with a hint of blue, but often they are more violet or pinkish than a true red. As with all gemstones, the color should be even throughout. Rubies from different origins often have distinctive colors—Mozambican rubies, for instance, are a deep pink hue. It is rare to find exceptional clarity even in high-quality rubies. Look instead for a gemstone with good transparency—that is, an ability to transmit light. Still, a good-quality ruby should not have inclusions that are distractingly obvious. Nor should there be so many that the gemstones appear dull. A ruby that is relatively free of inclusions will have lots of brilliance and sparkle. This is important if the gemstone is faceted—though less so if it is a cabochon, in which case the color is most important.

Spinel is a natural gemstone which has, throughout history, often been confused with Ruby in its red iterations. Spinel comes in a vast range of colors, most notably a brilliant red and deep, cobalt blue. They can also be grey, which is neutral but accompanied by a gorgeous blue tint. Sometimes Spinel are pastel-colored in lavender, mint green or pale pink and blue. Their fine colors can give Ruby and Sapphire a run for their money, even surpassing their richness of color. Uniquely, Spinel often has a high level of fluorescence, meaning it fluoresces in sunlight creating a glowing effect.

Turquoise has long been treasured by people the world over and appears in the jewelry and precious artifacts of many ancient civilizations. The elaborate gold and turquoise bracelets of Queen Zer of Ancient Egypt are the earliest known jewelry forms dating to 5500BC. Native Americans of the Southwest have been using Turquoise since the Ancestral Pueblo tribes made Heishe beads, and the various tribes continue today with the iconic silver and turquoise jewelry first created in the 1850’s. Turquoise is a stone of communication and mental clarity. We work with specially sourced Turquoise, exclusively in our Future Heritage Collection.

Morganite is the pretty, peachy-pink variety of beryl—others include emerald and aquamarine. Its feminine colors result from the presence of manganese. After its discovery in California and Madagascar in the early 20th century, this pink beryl was renamed morganite in honor of financier and gem enthusiast J. P. Morgan. Though there are also small deposits in Brazil, Mozambique, Namibia, Afghanistan, and Russia, quality morganite remains relatively rare. It has many important qualities, including durability, luster, clarity and brilliance.

A perfect balance of beauty and imperfection, rutilated quartz is the result of mineral inclusions caught within a clear quartz crystal. Ranging from golden to coppery, these highly refractive, delicate needles look most beautiful streaking sparsely through sections of the quartz. Like quartz with rutile, this stormy gemstone is a result of black tourmaline encapsulated within the quartz crystal. It is a powerful gemstone associated with the energies of both the consciousness-raising quartz, and the protective qualities linked to black tourmaline.

The moonstone was so named for its otherworldly luminescence, a trait caused by light diffraction among the varying feldspar layers of its mineral formation. Used in jewelry throughout antiquity, both Greeks and Romans associated the glowing gem with lunar deities, while in India the silvery stone is a symbolic one for lovers. Moonstone occurs in a variety of muted tones from white and peach to blue and grey, while rainbow moonstone refers to the color that is both white and laced with a prismatic sheen.

Perfectly pastel, rose gold results from copper being mixed into a yellow gold alloy. We work with both 18K and 14k rose gold, which is light pink. Our 18k version is more of a peachy hue, which was custom blended to achieve the beautiful ‘Tea Rose’ color, and can be seen mostly in our Flying Flowers fine jewelry collection.

We love the timeless look of white gold with white diamonds, and how this elegant metal allows the stones to really shine. We offer white gold in 14K, which is always coming with a white rhodium finish to elevate the white color. Note: The rhodium will wear off over time, but it is easily reapplied.

All of our rings can be made in platinum, on request. Platinum is both highly valued and the most durable of the precious metals; it is also slightly heavier and more expensive than gold. The color of platinum is purely white, as opposed to white gold, which is an alloy of yellow ore and requires a rhodium finish.

The subtle beauty of the Curve band looks elegant worn stacked and nested, wave-on-wave, or as a single, delicate contour. Set with diamonds or adorned in luminous seed pearls, our range of Curve bands shimmer in smooth gold that inspires a sense of wonder at simple, organic lines.

Diamond dusted and infinitely delicate, the New Moon and Crescent bands, like their namesakes, lend an air of mystery and illumination. Each is available in two sizes designed to sit perfectly against a solitaire stone, as well as stacked to create a double halo radiating out from the ring.

Sharp lines give an elegant edge to any ring stack, but these shapes are also striking worn singly. Designed to sit perfectly against the point of a marquise or pear-shaped stone, these bands—which include the Chevron, Celestine Tiara, Orbit and Chrysalis bands—also make an unusual statement paired with a round stone, or nested by size within each other.