This two-carat multi-color sapphire has all the colors of the forest in the afternoon... rich green golden highlights and a touch of blue. Surround by a crown of champagne and canary yellow diamonds and set in 18KT yellow gold on a 16"-18" adjustable chain. One of a kind. Wear it as a talisman every day and on special occasions. Meant to be worn all the time. Elegance for Every Day.
Dear Wonderful, Supportive Client-Friends: I'm still working hard despite this pandemic. I've missed seeing you at my annual summer shows, but I've been getting calls from some of you who see me every year.
So, here's a gentle reminder that you can reach me any time at 312-346-2363 or
I always have things on sale. They just come and go fairly quickly so I don't generally post them. Wanna know? Just give me a ring or a text.
I've been using Zoom and FaceTime to work with you, so give it a try. You have the convenience of being in your home while still being in the role of "co-designer" as we work through the project details.
The same is true for appraisals.
Keep your jewelry clean. Take it off and swish it around in a bowl of very warm water and dish detergent. Clean the surfaces with a very soft toothbrush or a cotton swab. You can soak it for awhile, too. Rinse thoroughly under running water. A spritz of Windex and the soft brush will remove the soapy residue . Rinse again. If you want to clean earrings or gold chains, you can buy alcohol pads at CVS and rub the surfaces, just like I do at art shows between customers.
A Good Time to Evaluate What you Own
What do you have stashed in that jewelry box? Do you know what you've inherited? Do we need to reimagine that brooch from your Great Aunt? Now is a good time to send or video conference with me for appraisals, especially since the drive to organize our personal lives has taken hold. No need to come into the office at all. Appraisals start at $150 but for the time being, I am offering the work at $100 per report with a 10% discount on three or more items. You will receive a full professional report for insurance, estate, or resale purposes. I am also trained as an expert witness, gem consultant, and Accredited International Valuer. Most of all, remember to let your beautiful pieces bring you a sense of calm and joy. That's what they are made for and never has it been more important to keep ourselves balanced and grateful.
As you all know, I love rubies and sapphires (they are the same mineral but differently colored) because they are beautiful, rare, AND durable. So it should come as no surprise that when I saw this 2-carat, glowing ruby from Tajikistan , I had to have it for my client. Well, she had to have it, so lucky for me!
This ruby is a swirl of rich red and deep magenta with a lot of brilliance. It’s rare to find such brilliance in a ruby and the round shape (unusual in large rubies) and carat size are very compelling. We decided that stone needed crisp white diamonds to give her the field, and a little motion to allow her to sparkle in any direction. Platinum was the metal of choice. Et voila! A ruby icicle is born.
A bit about the geographic origin of this stone. Most rubies are found in Burma, Madagascar, Mozambique, and other parts of Africa. Tajikistan is off the radar because it lies between some of the other “stans” including Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The location for the ruby mining is high in the Pamir Mountains and only accessible via the Khyber Pass or “Quirkistan “ Airlines, as noted by famed gemologist Richard Hughes in his lab article about searching for rubies here. So totally remote that I’m not even sure how this stone migrated to the dealer in New York City from whom I bought it. For my client and I, the origin added to the gem's allure. That allure or mystery is part of the fun of collecting jewelry and gems.
One of my favorite client services is the ability to access the rare and the beautiful and design a piece around them so we can wear them all the time. This Tajiki ruby screamer is living her best life.
It's been a challenging year for all of us on so many levels that sometimes I find myself without words. However, I'm hearing from many of you and I know from my own life that we have all found creative ways to manage, new interests, and, for many, a clarification of what is most important.
You've told me that your sustaining concerns are family, friends, supporting our favorite causes, becoming informed citizens, nourishing ourselves with good food, good movies, and lots of Zooming. You are supporting medical groups, the arts, the hungry, and healthy politics. You are community leaders and good, solid people. Luckily for me, you still want beautiful jewelry.
I am lucky to know all of you and to share life stories with so many . I am grateful beyond measure for 22 years in this crazy business. It is a global business allowing me to buy and sell from the farthest reaches. Over time, I've learned that people everywhere are the same. Good, solid, loving, hard-working, scared and confused sometimes and everyone loves a good laugh.
So thank you all. I'm blessed to have you as clients and friends and wish you safety, health, and brighter days ahead.
The pendant below is part of a classic, halo series I've been producing this year. I combine great colors with a classic design and my clients love them. Each one is one of a kind. They look great with a black tee or with your workout clothes and serve as a kind of anchoring piece, or so I'm told. Don't forget those layers, too!
Shown here, a Burmese gray spinel surrounded by blue sapphires and white diamonds. If you have a stone for me to set up, let me know. Otherwise, I have lots of choices in house or can get anything you like from one of those global dealers I just mentioned.
When I learn fun things, my first inclination is to share with you. I had no idea that the name for this beloved shade of pink actually came from the mouth of designer Elsa Schiaparelli when she described a 17.67 carat diamond Cartier ring owned by Daisy Fellowes. The story goes that Daisy, the only daughter of Isabelle Blanche Singer of sewing machine fame, was known as a transatlantic social tornado in 1920s and 1930s Paris and New York.
She had a penchant for shopping and, one day, turned up at lunch with Elsa wearing the above-mentioned Cartier hot pink diamond ring. Schiaparelli had never seen such a color and fell irretrievably in love. “The color flashed in front of my eyes,” Schiaparelli later wrote, “bright, impossible, impudent, becoming, life giving, a color of China and Peru but not of the West, --a shocking color, pure and undiluted.” And there we have it. Shocking pink.
Schiaparelli immediately incorporated the color into her new perfume, which she named “Shocking.” The packaging was hot pink and the bottle shaped to emulate Mae West’s voluptuous figure.
One more fun fact about hot pink: Marilyn Monroe wore a hot pink dress with a big back bow when she sang “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” in the movie “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.”
In the pink,
Diana
You all know I love sapphires. Any color, any shape, as long as they are well cut and refractive.
For quite a while now, I’ve been buying from a Swedish gem group which carefully sources its sapphire material from a small mining village in Sri Lanka. The Swedes have recruited and trained local miners and cutters so they can work together and benefit more directly from selling local material. Each stone is traceable to a particular mine. This amount of transparency may seem a bit quirky, but I love knowing that the stones in my work translate to gain for the hardworking and under-recognized locals. At the wholesale level, I pay a bit more, but I don’t mind. We are getting unheated sapphires in beautiful colors and unusual geometric cuts.
Following are some excerpts from an interview done by the Swedes when asked about their fair trade operation.
“For 14 years, I’ve searched for the most skilled cutters in Sri Lanka and India. Early on, I vetoed India since they are more industrialized, whereas Sri Lankan cutters are usually smaller-scale artisans with family-run operations.
I noticed there was incredible skill hiding among Sri Lankan cutters. My breakthrough came where I offered to pay double the price to a promising Sri Lankan lapidary, but only if they always used ”ideal angles” when cutting. Previously, cutters were making the bottom of the stones bigger to retain more weight. They did this to maximize income, because the cutters were paid per carat. Our new agreement solved this issue and guaranteed us only premium cuts.
When I found an independent stone cutter in the town of Nivithigala name Sampath, I was astonished (as was my extremely picky Cutting Manager here in Sweden). He was using a home-built machine which probably cost about $200 to make (compared to our $5,000+ machine here in Sweden) and his cutting was magnificent.”
When we started this project, we didn’t know that our cutter in Nivitihigala was such an impressing cutting artist. We originally collaborated with him because he knew numerous miners in the area and could ensure traceability. He would source the rough sapphires from mines in the area, and later transfer the rough sapphires to our regular lapidary closer to the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.
Upon discovering this man’s unparalleled cutting skill, our project turned out even better than we dreamt. Now, both the mining and cutting happen locally in Nivithigala. Even the heat treatments (in the cases where they’re applied) are done by traditional “burners” locally in Nivitihigala. They use old blow-pipe and fire techniques, rather than the electrical furnaces used in the larger processing centers in nearby Rathnapura and Thailand.
Sri Lanka is the world’s oldest and most fabled source of sapphires. In 2000 years of mining, they have developed a system to work with the environment and not against it:
There is so much more to this story, but I’ve already gone too long. I’ve made and sold some recent stone acquisitions but there are more for you. Just give me a call or come visit.
Sapphire sparkles from me to you.
Diana
In the icy white North of Greenland lays a cache of red ruby and pink sapphire rough. Formerly covered with ice and now revealed by global warming, this rich red ruby and sapphire deposit is “believed by geologists to be the oldest rock formation on earth,” according to Company exploration reports. The mine in Aaplauttoq, Greenland opened five years ago.
The mining rights are owned by a Norwegian company which is the only group allowed to mine in this delicate area. The local Greenlanders do the mining (35% are women) and reap the benefits of this small and very high-tech operation. Mining standards in Aapaluttoq adhere to the highest health, safety, and environmental requirements and each stone is traceable from mine to market. I can see this because all of the rubies I’ve purchased have code numbers, color grades, and sourcing information. I am thrilled to support this venture because of its environmental standards, traceability, and support of those who work in the field. Plus it’s just fun to have something so relatively rare to put into my work.
Each stone has inclusions characteristic of corundum (ruby and sapphire) and also particular to Greenland. They are heat treated using standard methods.
The prices of these rubies and sapphires are relatively reasonable now and I can offer them to you with that in mind. I’m enthusiastically planning designs now. I have small and larger stones here in various shades of deep red, bright red, magenta, and pink.
Call 312-346-2363 or email me if you want dibs or are just curious. There are quite a few ruby and pink sapphire lovers amongst you.
Regards from the reds and pinks,
Diana
Sometimes in a designer's life, she throws caution to the winds and makes a piece that is rich, luxurious, and singular. This Tutti Frutti bracelet is a delicate yet substantial one of a kind. Loaded with sapphires, rubies, colored diamonds, and green garnet, it's a gazers delight. Pair it with your tennis bracelet, your favorite gold chains for a gorgeous arm party, or just by itself. You will find color combinations you never thought of and a satisfying array of some of the world's rarest gems. Approximately 8 carats of stones. Hand-fabricated. Elegance for Every Day. $10,000
It’s no secret that I love pearls’ subtle colors and soft light. I love all the shapes and the mixed colors that happen randomly in many pearls. Admittedly, I wear mostly rounds and teardrop baroques but all the crazy shapes we used to cast aside are considered fun to wear and for good reason.
Strands can be worn at any length, with layering necklaces, or just as single, beautiful statements about your current mood: “I’m feeling cozy today” say the browns and taupes. “I’m glamorous and sexy,” say the blacks and grays. “I’m aglow, lighthearted, and in a classic mode,” say the whites and pinks. “I’m chic and I like unconventional beauty.”
I found this chart that gives you a one-word color identifier for when you want to add some pearls to your collection but you’re not sure what to call them.
Green is one of my favorite colors. Spring green lights up the world after a long dark winter. Spruce green, a grayish-bluish-green, is soft on the senses and quietly elegant. Emerald green, rich and focused, satisfies a gazing gem geek. If you’ve been a long-time reader of this journal, you know that I always marvel at nature’s provision of color in all her creations: green water, green gems, green plants and trees… I’ve been working with watery and rich blues and greens for a long time as these hues occur most amiably in Montana sapphires and “parti-colored” sapphires shown here. A fine peridot has no equal for its grassy green hue.
The Romans believed green to be restful to the eyes. They pulverized emeralds (ouch!) and used the dust as eye balm. It is said that Emperor Nero was besotted with emeralds and had a vast collection. He even used the larger ones as a prototype of “sunglasses” saying they made it easier for him to see the gladiators in the blinding sun over the Circus Maximus.
Shakespeare gave us “green-eyed jealousy,” in” The Merchant of Venice” and a “green-eyed monster” in “Othello.”
Don’t forget the Wizard’s Emerald City-- a place of dreams and possibility.
In the metaphysical world, green is associated with growth, renewal, and rebirth.
Best regards from the studio and think green thoughts!
Diana
