This Diamond Dealer Bet Big on Fancy Color—and Retailers Are Starting to Follow

By Victoria Gomelsky | June 24, 2026

Reema Chopra, the founder of Khepri Jewels, is blunt about her beginnings in the diamond business. “I had no interest in starting a brand,” she tells JCK on a recent video call.

It was 2016 and Chopra, a former banker and recent GIA graduate, was content selling diamonds to retailers. A diamond dealer who became a mentor to her, however, set her on a different path. “He used to tell me, ‘Don’t focus on the diamonds that are on the list,’” she says, referring to basic colorless gems the likes of which are traded based on the Rapaport Price List. “He was like, ‘Focus on the diamonds you can’t find on a list. That’s where the magic happens.’”

While neither of them knew where Chopra’s trajectory would take her, the advice seems especially prescient in retrospect. Khepri Jewels, which Chopra founded in 2023, specializes in natural fancy color diamonds in a medley of fancy shapes—in other words, “diamonds the market can’t put a price on,” she says.

That specialty was on full display at the Luxury show in Las Vegas, where Khepri’s booth attracted retailers, she says, who have struggled with selling natural colorless gems in light of increased competition from lab-grown.

“I made a stand to not bring in white diamonds,” Chopra says. “I find that there’s no point in me competing in the white diamond space. And I keep hearing from retailers right now that they’re having a very hard time convincing customers, especially the middle market, that they should be spending money on a natural versus a lab diamond. There’s not enough of a differentiation in order to convince that consumer. So I wanted to come in this year at Luxury, and I wanted a very focused perspective. I was amazed at how many retailers were in awe.”

Khepri Jewels mismatched earrings — *Earrings in 18k and 22k yellow gold with 4.33 cts. t.w. fancy color pear diamonds, price on request*

Chopra came by her conviction that fancy color diamonds are the future of natural sales over the past couple years after hearing retailers tell her they were having no trouble selling gold jewelry, vintage jewelry, and colored gemstones, but the classic white diamond engagement ring market clearly had taken a turn for the worse.

“Gen Z has no interest in buying—the sales that we’re still seeing, we’re seeing them in a more mature market,” Chopra says, adding that she also started seeing a shift among luxury clients. “I’m talking the 1%. For so long, the ultra-flex for the rich was big, white, shiny diamonds and white gold. Think about award shows, anything in history where you want to show you have money: It was white diamonds against white gold, like the whitest diamonds possible.”

Sensing the shift, Chopra began offering her luxury clients natural diamonds in warmer hues—think J- to K-color stones that felt more authentic to her. Then, in 2023, a client in her late 50s or early 60s was going through a divorce and brought Chopra four diamonds from various rings her ex-husband had bought for her.

“She had an array of stones,” Chopra says. “She got the promise ring, she got the engagement ring, she got the 25-year anniversary ring, and then, a pre-divorce big diamond before she got dumped.”

Chopra created a cartouche necklace featuring the four white diamonds, which came in completely different shapes. “Antique-cut, full-cut, old mine–cut,” she says. “The antique cut had a little bit more of a color tone, but they were just white at the time.”

Khepri Jewels pin charms — *Cartouche Charms pin in 18k and 22k yellow gold with 10.49 cts. t.w. fancy color diamond charms, price on request*

The style caught on among the client’s Upper East Side friends, who started coming to Chopra with their engagement rings, requesting she reset them in her by now-signature cartouche necklaces.

All the while, Chopra maintained her commitment to natural diamonds. “I said, ‘I don’t even know what to charge you with lab,’” she recalls. “‘I’m either not making any money or I’m robbing you. I don’t know which one’s better.’”

In July 2023, Chopra was in the Hamptons, where she happened to meet Paola Russo, the influential owner of the Los Angeles fashion retailer Just One Eye. Russo inquired about the cartouche necklaces Chopra was wearing—and quickly placed an order.

Khepri Jewels mesh pendant — *Mesh Leaf pendant necklace in 18k and 22k yellow gold with 4.05 cts. t.w. fancy color diamonds, price on request*

“She launched it in her store in November of 2023 and by January, she had sold every cartouche piece—about $400,000,” Chopra says.

But what Chopra discovered as Khepri was just getting off the ground is that even though her private clients loved warmer color and fancy color diamonds, retailers were often too scared to take a chance on them.

“Most of the stuff the retailers were taking, even though Khepri is about colored diamonds, was all white,” she says.

Khepri marquise diamond ring — *Ring in 18k gold with 3.25 ct. center diamond and 0.53 ct. t.w. fancy color diamonds, $95,800*

Chopra was frustrated. “I’m like, ‘What am I doing here?” she says. “I stand for color diamonds. I started this as a natural diamond movement. I felt like this was almost a social responsibility. I wanted people to find diamonds aspirational and beautiful. I wanted to create a meeting place where people could look at diamonds like this as everyday transitional jewelry they buy for $3,000 or $100,000. But it’s luxury in the same way.”

Her goal was to target middle-market customers, so she began making more affordable rings set with natural fancy color diamonds. “If you start looking at my jewelry pieces, you’re going to see some that are $2,000 or $2,500 and they’re very luxurious,” Chopra says. “They’re still in 18- and 22k gold. I’m not going to 9k or 14k. I’m giving customers something very luxurious and I’m giving them a reason to buy natural diamonds that aren’t white.”

Khepri Jewels UV pear diamond ring — *Ring in 18k gold with 6 ct. UV pear-shape diamond, price on request*

But Chopra also has something else up her sleeve. She flashes a pear-shape diamond ring on her right hand, weighing nearly 10 cts. “This is an XYZ stone,” Chopra says. “It’s got fluorescence, so it gives you this in-between, opalescent color. I’ve built so many more engagement rings now based on this. Customers like it because when they look at it, the first thing they tell me is, ‘I know it’s natural.’”

Chopra says she’s witnessing a paradigm shift: Clients, even at the luxury end of the spectrum, are looking for diamonds that are slightly yellow. “They still want the white, but they want it slightly yellow,” she says. “They’re looking for little nuances to tell people that their diamond is real.

“If they’re not ready to go completely brown, yellow, or green, they’re saying, ‘Give me an off-color stone, an XYZ,” she adds.

The reception Chopra’s gotten has energized her and inspired a mission. “This is not a trend for me,” she says. “This is something I’m going to be doing today, tomorrow, and in the future. I want to build an entire legacy around these color diamonds and the nuances of natural stones.”

Top: Vanki ring in 18k and 22k gold with 0.9 ct. fancy color marquise diamond, $8,500; Khepri Jewels