As coloured stone dealers we are very much of the opinion that while Diamonds are wonderful and important, they exist to accessorise our coloured stones.
Jewellers through out the ages
There are some amazing jewellers who almost paint with coloured stones – one is JAR (a.k.a. Joel Arthur Rosenthal), whose gem-set flowers have an enormous range of colours. The art nouveau jeweller Dorrie Nossitor was the absolute master of mixing coloured stones. She used a very subtle palette and obviously had little regard for the value of the stones, as she would mix together commercial and high-end coloured stones to create the most beautiful jewels. Fulco di Verdura, Chanel’s jeweller, created very striking combinations and the company Verdura continues to mix bold colours, as does Bulgari.
Moira Patience
One of the pleasures of our job is to work with designers to source and provide them with exactly the right gemstones for their designs and then to see the results. Each designer sees colour differently and right now we are particularly enjoying Edinburgh jeweller Moira Patience’s creations, which are modern, wearable, and show such style.
Moira is a huge advocate for coloured gemstones and more often than not uses colour as the centrepiece, adding creative metal design and diamonds to accent the best features of the coloured stones’ appearance. She focuses on making one-off pieces that reflect the style of the wearer, as well as making sure it will last a lifetime in its design and wear.
As Moira’s work demonstrates, Diamonds offset coloured stones beautifully, adding a sparkle that serves to highlight them. The range of sizes and cuts in Diamonds are infinite, allowing jewellery to have texture and fantastic shapes to be created. We have recently noticed that the fashion for coloured shoulder gemstones being placed either side of a Diamond has come back again, making the ring much more individual.
Match made in heaven
Here are some of the different ways we have been seeing Diamonds used to help off-set a coloured stone:
● Side stones – this can be with any shape. Rounds, pear shaped, bagette and taper bagettes are the more traditional style, however, other shapes are being used more often such as kite or lozenge, trillians or even rough diamonds.
● Diamond in the band of the ring
● Halos – Diamonds surrounding the gemstone, whether that be in rounds or princess cuts.
● Mixed pave sets
● Single or multiple diamonds set above a coloured stone (typically on a pendant or earring).
● Elaborate designs with one or multiple shapes of diamonds. This is seen a lot in art deco-styled jewellery where different shaped stones were often used to make an eye-catching design. Today, Harry Winston has a range called the Candy Collection, where multiple coloured stones in different colours, shapes and sizes are combined with diamonds. The way the jewellery was designed has really lived up to its name and it truly does remind you of a candy shop.
Diamonds and coloured stones have also been combined to make amazing images in the form of jewellery and art. One of probably the most famous pieces would be the Cartier Leopard, where Diamonds are set all over the leopard and whose Emerald eyes are striking.
Fast forward to today and blogger Hannah Becker, otherwise known as Diamond Doodles on Instagram, draws and arranges diamonds and coloured gemstones to make gorgeous Instagram images. In doing so she has much in common with Cartier, Bulgari, Verdura and JAR, in combining Diamonds and coloured gemstones in imaginative and striking designs, using each to highlight the brilliance of the other. Truly a match made in heaven.
Gemstone specialists GF Williams supplies a huge range of high quality coloured gemstones and is an expert and experienced gemstone supplier to designers, manufacturers, collectors and private clients.
Find out more about how GF Williams can fulfil your gemstone requirements by browsing our online gemstone catalogue or contacting our friendly team of gemstone experts on +44 (0) 207 405 5477 or email office@gfwilliams.co.uk
