When Suzanne Kalan decided to challenge the diamond status quo three decades ago, it was an uphill struggle. Her jewelry designs, which favored baguette-cut diamonds in tiny sizes rather than more tried-and-tested cuts, were not well received. “[They were] not popular at all, and I was continuously told by buyers in the stores that they just wouldn’t sell,” she remembers. “Every store owner had a bad experience with baguettes.”
Now, of course, the Suzanne Kalan brand has found success. Its signature use of diamond baguettes has attracted customers — and copycats — across the globe, to the point that baguettes have become practically mainstream. Today, designers seeking to disrupt the diamond jewelry scene are turning to increasingly obscure stone shapes, and these efforts are paying off in a consumer market hungry for novelties.
“In December, we introduced rare shapes, and they are doing really well,” says New York-based jewelry designer Shahla Karimi. The list of cuts with which she works is extensive and exotic: kites, diamond-shaped lozenges, square brilliant-cut Flanders, shields, half-moons, cut-corner triangles, and a diamond cut she calls “lucky”:
a brilliant-cut elongated octagon.
“We try to balance out the unique shapes with a more metal-centric setting,” she says. “We tend to hold the side stones when we are highlighting a unique shape like a lucky or kite; we gravitate toward a wider, plain band to showcase the center stone and create a sense of balance.”
Jeweler-to-the-stars Jemma Wynne has similarly amped up investment in alternative diamond cuts, driven by consumer demand.
“Diamond shields have, by far, become one of our most requested alternative cuts,” reports company cofounder Stephanie Wynne Lalin. “Our clients seem to be drawn to the shield shape, and we have been working on a lot of custom pieces incorporating that style. With the renaissance of heart jewelry, heart cuts have also become very popular. We also frequently work with trillions, marquises — which we love to set east-west — elongated baguettes, and interesting one-of-a-kind shapes.”
The sourcing conundrum
The rarity of alternative cuts makes them “notoriously hard to source,” according to Karimi. This is a hurdle Kalan faced in the 1980s with baguettes.
“Baguette sizes are so varied that it was extremely difficult to have a large quantity of the exact same sizes in a parcel,” recalls Kalan, though she has since remedied the situation by having diamonds custom-cut to fit her needs.
“Once you look past round diamonds, supply issues become more complex,” agrees Greg Kwiat, chief executive at luxury jewelry brands Fred Leighton and Kwiat. “There is a tremendous variability in the cut quality of fancy shapes, and securing a supply that is consistent in make and shape can be complicated.”
Like Kalan, Karimi has shifted to working with rough-diamond suppliers to cut bespoke shapes — though she notes the higher expense of doing so. “The longer it takes to source a stone, and the more rare it is, the more it costs the end user. The setting can also take longer, and we are happy to pay for that [to achieve perfection].”
Canadian jeweler Kelty Pelechytik specializes in portrait diamonds, a flat cut defined by a mirror-like lack of facets. When sourcing her first portrait diamond, she found herself on a waiting list for nearly a year before being able to buy. However, sourcing is becoming easier, she says: “Within the last six months, they’ve become much more readily available, which indicates a quick rise in demand.”
She has noticed a similar increase in the availability of other unconventional diamond shapes, including hearts, squares and elongated hexagons.
Though alternative cuts are less dependent on flashy brilliance than rounds are, this doesn’t mean lower-quality stones are more passable. In fact, having a good-quality cut, color and clarity is even more important in these diamonds, as they have to work harder to shine.
“It’s still possible to retain the sparkle with a differing cut,” says Kalan. “This is all to do with the quality of the diamond.” As such, her brand imposes a minimum color of G and clarity of VS across all its ranges.
Old is the new new
Many of the larger alternative stones Jemma Wynne has used are older diamonds the jeweler has acquired from antiques dealers, according to Wynne Lalin. Indeed, though these shapes feel fresh and exciting next to more traditional round brilliants or pears, they are rarely new innovations; shields and movals are a hallmark of ancient Indian jewelry, while heart-shaped diamonds first found fame in the 15th century.
Harvey Owen, a new jewelry brand that launched out of London during the pandemic, has filled its debut engagement ring collection with rose-cut diamonds — a centuries-old style that the Natural Diamond Council (NDC) has described as enjoying a “resurrection.” Though the cut has often been used to give jewels a vintage feel, Harvey Owen cofounder Hallam Harvey feels the aesthetic is more futuristic than historic.
“When you describe a rose cut, you want to describe it as a new, modern diamond cut, even though it’s one of the oldest, as they look very graphic,” he says. In general, the trend toward graphic or geometric jewelry lends itself well to alternative diamond cuts; the sharp edges of kites and hexagons feel incredibly à la mode.
Views on value
With time-consuming sourcing hurdles to overcome and bespoke cutting and setting costs inflating the bottom line, unusual diamond shapes are not always the cheap alternative to round brilliants that consumers might expect. This can prompt frank discussions about value and investment.
“We are often asked whether certain shapes are ‘trendy’ and whether they will hold value well over the longer term,” says Kwiat. “While certain shapes do tend to come in and out of style, our advice to our clients is always to buy what they love.”
For many, the alternative-cut trend stems more from a hunger for strong design statements than a desire for status.
“I think consumers are being exposed to more and more unusual takes on traditional fine jewelry, and because of that, they’re becoming a lot more comfortable and exploring something that feels a little bit off the beaten path,” says Baylee Zwart of Azlee. The Los Angeles, California-based brand has been working with cuts such as shields, kites and lozenges in bespoke work for several years, but is now bringing them into ready-to-wear collections.
At Jemma Wynne, questions rarely arise about the long-term worth of a kite, trillion, or one-of-a-kind bespoke cut compared with a round brilliant. “Most of our clients buying alternative cuts are not focused on the investment potential of the stone,” says Wynne Lalin. “By buying something they truly love, it is more of an investment in themselves or the person they are purchasing the piece for.”
Does all of this sound the death knell for round brilliants? Far from it, according to most designers dealing in other shapes.
“Round-brilliant bling has serious staying
power and will always have its audience,” asserts Kwiat. Yet the days when size and sparkle won out over all else in diamond jewelry are over.
“Jewelry is art in its most wearable form, [and as such,] a portrait diamond can grab as much or more attention than a brilliant cut,” says Pelechytik. “These alternative cuts becoming more popular opens the door to lots of different styles, tastes and budgets. I don’t think we are over round brilliants or bling, but I think we are inspired by more personal, distinctive treasures.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2021. To subscribe click here.