How to choose a piece of diamond

Every diamond lover should learn how to choose a piece of diamond. Most people have at least heard about the 4Cs in choosing a piece of diamond, although the inner intricacies are only appreciated by a few. In this post, I shall explain how I choose diamonds for my designs, and what advice I can give for anyone interested in buying a piece of carat size diamond.

The problem with every customer is Given a limited budget how should I choose the best piece of diamond available?

The price of diamonds differs in regard to their 4Cs: carat (How large is it?), clarity (How much inclusions are there inside?), color (How white is it?) and cut (How does it compare with the ideal brilliant cut?)

With the same budget, you can buy a larger diamond with many inclusions, with brownish shade in color, and without much shine, or you can buy a much smaller one with no inclusion (we call internal flawless), the whitest D color and the best cut (triple brilliant). In between there lies all decisions. And such decision ultimately depends on your knowledge and your objective.

Take knowledge for example. You have to know where the inclusion lies to see how much it will affect the design of the piece of jewelry. And can the particular design hide the inclusion? The same clarity grading will often times mean quite different things. A discerning eye on beauty is needed here.

Another example. Choosing the right color involves decision not only on the carat stone. If you are thinking of designing a piece with complementary smaller diamonds (which is usually the case!), make sure that your designer or jeweler can support you with small diamonds of similar color grade. You don't want a D color Internal Flawless (IF) carat stone flanked by H color SI stones - all have to go well together.

The cut of diamond is responsible for its brilliant and shine. It is not given by nature but done by human being - a skilled diamond cutter. Nowadays most round diamonds are cut as brilliant cut. It was first developed by Tolkowsky in 1919, but the modern brilliant cut was gradually developed and generally accepted after World War II. The best brilliant cut will give the best shine.

My advice is therefore buy the diamond with the best cut that you can afford. It really doesn't matter if you have chosen a stone with D color and IF clarity, if it is not well proportioned, you will forever have a dull, lifeless looking diamond. Moreover diamond cut appreciation is acquired taste,  You may not be able to differentiate the effects of different cuts if you are new to diamond. A piece of diamond is not a consumable item, when it is set into a beautiful design, you will begin to become its fan and gradually you will learn to appreciate how good (or how not so good) your diamond cut is.

A final word on objective. Is it your first piece of diamond or are you thinking of buying it as part of your legacy? If you have the former objective, a "mass-market" stone of average price can serve your purpose, but you have the latter objective, the most affordable high quality stone should be your best choice.

The proportion of brilliant cut diamonds

Gift-giving and fine jewelry

Fine jewelries are very personal. Watches are bought by brand, jewelries are bought to reflect a person's taste and personality. Sometimes that makes it difficult to buy a piece of jewelry as a gift. And the factor of culture also comes into the picture.

In Italy, a man buys jewelries for his lover or wife. About 70% of jewelries in Italy are bought by men for women.  Why? Because Italian men believe themselves to be romantic. I should know the taste and personality of my lady! So claimed the Italian men. Perhaps it is true. Italian women do not complain!

In Japan it is different. A Japanese man may buy a ring with a big diamond for his lover or wife. And she will be happy. But for designer pieces, the Japanese lady will take time to walk around the jewelers first. She has ample time for this important task because usually she will be a full time housewife. Then when the occasion comes, such as an anniversary, she will tacitly give hint to her lover or husband, which shop and which piece she likes.

American women like to buy jewelries by themselves. If she is a working lady, she will buy her own jewelry. If she is a full time housewife, she will indicate exactly what kind of jewelry she expects to get. Her lover or husband does not need to have any guess work.

Gift-giving for mothers or grandmothers is different. It is quite similar across cultures. A son or daughter usually choose diamond or colored gem stone in classic design with good craftsmanship. It is believed that the older generation prefer something of lasting value and not too fashionable. No complaint from the Mom too. She will be most delighted to receive any gifts from her children. Always no complain, as all good Moms do!

My all time classic Prestige Rose

The concept of minimalism in jewelry design

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts. Minimalism is any design or style in which the simplest and fewest elements are used to create the maximum effect (definition in Wikipedia).

I design some of my jewelries using the minimalist concept where all non-essential features are eliminated. And with the simplest elements behind, they have to work harder and work smarter, so that maximum effect can be felt by my customers. In everyday life, when we meet someone for the first time, we usually speak more slowly in a more articulate manner. We use simpler words and phrases. We try to express ourselves with more complete sentences. We employ less technical words or phrases belonging to our respective sub-cultures or idiosyncrasies. In short, we won't act as minimalists. In being limiting to the absolutely essentials, the power of communicability drops below a certain threshold.

Minimalist jewelry is however not the same as simple jewelry like a simple (may be very expensive) brilliant cut diamond set with four simple prongs. No extra message is being communicated by a piece of simple jewelry, except the core message "I'm wearing a diamond ring". Minimalism has to create the maximum effect, a special impact, to someone with a shared culture or at least a shared aesthetics, however simple it is being defined.

Germany has a strong culture of minimalist jewelry with strong lines, angles and curves signifying a personality in love with precision, rationality and tradition. And it goes beyond jewelry design to German stone cutting of faceted colored stones, their skills still remain world number one, but too expensive to be worked only on the most exquisite stones. Women who do not share this culture find it difficult to appreciate German minimalist jewelries.

The minimalism of my jewelries share the same aesthetics with discerning ladies who love the beauty of details, who love the softness of curves rather than the geometric precision of sharp turns and angels, and who love their passion to be expressed maximally in a most subtle way.

My minimalism is expressed in my Love Tree ring (click HERE for a previous post for details), and my minimalism is likewise expressed in the diamond ring below with four sets of signature petite double prongs, from my "Because of You" collection.

Sabina Lee - Because of You

Wine and Dine (Diamond) as acquired taste

We taste wine but we look at diamonds. The enjoyment of both is however similar, an acquired taste. Fair to say, most people can pick out the least desirable ones. Like the cheapest wines selling at Carrefour supermarkets in Paris, selling less than a bottle of Evian of the same size, will most likely be unpalatable, for those whose sole objective is getting drunk rather than for those seeking its taste. And likewise for diamonds. Moving up the spectrum, things will be different. The taste has to be acquired or learned.

One of my friends, a successful investment banker, happened to be an active amateur wine-trader for some years before import tax was scraped in 2008, making his venture less profitable. He had an apartment storing his wines which he bought in bulk or semi-bulk and would resell them to small restaurant owners who preferred not to stock up too many bottles for an individual vintage. He didn't do it for the profit, he loved wine, and he would cash in his profit in bottles of wine and would sometimes shared them with friends, after the cost has been recouped (or timing-wise before the cost has been recouped, for most of the time). And his friends could therefore have an opportunity to taste some bottles of better vintage.

The lesson was, look at its appearance, smell its aroma, taste it in the mouth (before swallowing), and feel its aftertaste. "Catch its overall taste and its complexity." Without the idea of how much a particular bottle of wine cost, it was almost like a blind-tasting training. And it worked, for most of us. Our taste gradually gravitated towards the more expensive ones!

In diamond appreciation, we have the 4Cs, actually three only, because carat is more of a cost concept, though a bigger diamond certainly looks more lovely to any lady! Anyway, we have the color, clarity and cut to look at. Color and clarity are the diamond's inherent qualities, whereas the cuter is the magician that makes all the difference.

As an artistic jewelry designer, I put a lot of emphasis in selecting good diamonds, as a way to enhance my design, as a way to create lasting value for my jewelries, and last but not least, to allow my customers to have the opportunity to learn to appreciate good diamonds, or to acquire a taste in diamonds.

I shall talk about how I do my diamond selection in a future post. Stay tuned.

Love tree

A few years ago I was approached by the editor of Lark Books asking me to submit a design to their new publication: 500 Wedding Rings. I was told that 500 designs would be jury selected from international submissions, and the judge would be Ms. Ursula Ilse-Neuman, the curator of Contemporary Jewelry at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York.

Modern arts are all about concepts, one delivers an unique artistic concept, rather than what we commonly called beauty, jazz rather than pop, wine rather than Pepsi. Professors at arts school do best in creating conceptual jewelries. As a commercial designer, I have to create beauty and value. I have to deliver jewelries using good gem-stones, with pleasing and lasting look (after all, a woman doesn't throw away her fine jewelries after the season!), and last but not least, a piece has to be finished with superb craftsmanship. Good enough as heritage of value.

I didn't want to create a piece of conceptual art just to be included in the publication. As such I had a formidable task: my creation has to to meet the high standard of contemporary art (otherwise it would not be selected), and yet, it must also look lovingly good to the lady next door (otherwise it could not be sold).

For this project, I got my inspiration from a romantic line of a famous Chinese poem written in the Tang Dynasty by Ba Juyi, his Song of Everlasting Regret (白居易：長恨歌):

That we wished to fly in Heaven, two birds with the wings of one; and to grow together on Earth, branches of two trees as one.

在天願作比翼鳥,
在地願為連理枝。

I created an intertwining knot-like structure in 18K white gold set with VS quality white diamonds with matching black diamonds. Half of the white gold I plated into black. Woman and man, Yin and Yang. I called it Love Tree, and in Chinese, 連理枝.

Love Tree by Sabina Lee

Listen to Takako Nishizaki playing Violin concerto Butterfly Lovers (Finale: Butterfly transformation)

Chance encounter

"I was late for my flight again, not an organized person I was then, my chores, business and personal, had always been more last minute than I had wished for.  That was the me of three years ago.  Almost like splashing on my Bobbie Brown lipstick, grabbed my Dior bag, rushed towards the hotel main entrance, a cab's door was already opened (the Japanese are marvelous people!).  It was on an escalator at Narita that I met him.  Me going up, he going down in parallel.  My heart nearly popped out, it had been four years after University that we saw each other last, not terribly good friends then, but nice impression, an excellent amateur cellist then and an IT man by profession now, I mean today.  I didn't know how I could possibility take out my business card in such split second, I did, and I quickly slipped it onto his palm, nice and warm, his mouth was wide opened, and I smiled.  We married a year later."

I was told this story and was touched.  It inspired me to create a bespoke diamond necklace for a lady customer of mine.  This stunning piece was set with two 2-carat diamonds both of GIA certified VVS clarity in G color as the focal point, completed with a generous use of medium ovals and smaller rounds.  The complete project was done in-house, including sourcing the diamonds.  A chance encounter can be very precious, in every sense of the word! 

Encounter by Sabina Lee

Listen to I believe, Yamaguchi Yuko (English and Japanese lyrics)