Star power

In an industry dominated by round brilliants, innovation in diamond design is rare, but sticking by convention has never been an ideal that could hold Mads and Mikkel Kornerup back.

The brothers are the founders and designers behind Danish company Shamballa Jewels. Its luxury pieces and the yogi-cum-rockstar lifestyle brand built around them have attracted the rich and famous, including rapper Jay-Z. His patronage propelled the brand and its iconic macramé cord bracelets, strung with precious-gemstone beads and diamond-studded gold balls, into the limelight over a decade ago.

At the chic Les Trois Rois hotel in Basel, Switzerland, earlier this year, the brothers presented their latest designs: twists on the macramé bracelets and the newer, flatter, customizable Lock bracelets introduced in 2011. New gems and colorways freshened up these classic pieces, with a particular focus on spherical rough diamonds.

Placed with little fanfare among the rest of the new lines was a Lock bracelet with a special component bearing the brand’s Star of Shamballa motif. What made it stand out was that the symbol, which is inspired by Eastern philosophies, was not carved into metal, but directly into a squared black diamond.

Carving a niche
“It’s a prototype,” says Mads of the branded diamond. “I wanted to do things that are not normally done. We have been drilling holes in diamonds [using lasers to string diamond beads onto necklaces and bracelets], but it’s super interesting to see what else can be done. The Star of Shamballa is our logo, but it’s more a mental symbol to remind you to be good to yourself. That’s why we chose to laser-engrave it into the diamond. We’re super happy with how it came out.”

Shamballa works with a family business in India to cut its diamonds, and while Mads says this particular project has had the manufacturers “pulling out their hair,” they are also constantly challenging the Kornerup brothers to innovate. “For years, they have been pushing us to give them some fun projects, as they are bored of doing the same stuff they have been doing for generations.”

Added value
Though the thought of wildly wielding lasers in the direction of diamonds is a fun one, the reality is costly. “You lose so [many] carats to obtain this look, this magic, but the carat and the clarity have never been as important to us [as] what look we wanted to obtain with the diamond,” says Mads.

The color is also an issue, as Mikkel points out, though new technology is allowing the company to be more creative without as much risk. “The difficult part of lasering is when it heats the diamond and then the diamond changes color,” he says. “They have a technique now where it’s not heated that much, so they can do a lot more, like carving diamonds. [This means] we’ll also be able to do it in light-colored diamonds, not just black diamonds.”

Of course, using lasers in this way is what most diamantaires spend their careers trying to avoid, since it devalues the stones. Mads acknowledges that “in a sense, we have destroyed the raw material, as it will be unable to be used again for traditional facets. We have killed the traditional value of that stone, but we have created a new value. Luckily, we have some pretty brave clients.”

Designing for men

Ask the Kornerup brothers about winning Best in Men’s at the Couture Design Awards in Las Vegas this year, and they’ll answer you with a wry grin. It’s become a running joke along the lines of Shamballa always being the bridesmaid but never the bride — until now, of course.

“We’ve entered for a few years,” says Mads Kornerup, particularly in the categories of colored diamonds and items above $20,000. “We always came runner-up, as we weren’t that known in the US. This time, we won.”

The design that did it was Shamballa’s customizable SJ Flip bracelet, which allows wearers to flip the 18-karat-gold, diamond and gemstone components over for different looks. It is perhaps unsurprising that the Danish jeweler dominated the new male-jewelry category (the award was introduced last year), as designing for men is very much at the heart of Shamballa.

“My brother and I make jewelry for ourselves, pieces that we love to wear,” says Mads. “Over the years, we’ve become a 50-50 men’s and women’s jewelry company, but the passion still lies in creating new things we can wear ourselves.”

Though diamonds might be more traditionally associated with women, the brothers say their male client base is hungry for sparkle. “It’s like tattoos,” Mads jokes about diamonds’ addictive nature. “Since we started putting diamonds in men’s jewelry in 2007, we’ve never looked back.”

While pavé works well in designs like the SJ Flip, Shamballa’s male shoppers prefer the understated glint of rough diamonds, as well as black and brown ones. The Kornerups don’t intend to stray far from their core styles in the future, but they do aim to innovate by creating bracelets with springs and hinges that will “give the watch world a run for its money.”

Image: Mads (left) and Mikkel Kornerup, founders of Shamballa Jewels.

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - October 2018. To subscribe click here.