On a recent video call with JCK, Akshie Jhaveri, founder and creative director of Grown Brilliance, a lab-grown diamond jewelry brand in New York, was momentarily distracted by a new 2.8 ct. diamond ring that had just emerged from the workshop.
“We created a really cool Dutch marquise ring for a beautiful couple,” Jhaveri says, referring to a marquise diamond featuring step cuts that result in a more kite-like silhouette than the traditional marquise.
“I’m looking at it right now because it’s sitting on my desk. It was completely custom-cut for them. The client’s fiancé wanted a Dutch marquise. She told him, ‘I know it’s a very old cut, and you don’t really find it.’
“You would have to pay a huge premium to get that Dutch marquise in a mined diamond,” Jhaveri adds. “And you wouldn’t even get the quality that you’re looking for. It would probably be a little bit yellowish or lower quality. We got it literally grown and cut for this couple. Things like that, you can only do with a lab-grown diamond.”
Five years ago, when the lab diamond industry was still nascent, many growers promoted their products as eco-friendly and affordable. Today, the emphasis has shifted to the special cuts and the consistency of quality that lab-grown diamonds allow.
Those two elements are on full display in Grown Brilliance’s new high jewelry collection, introduced last June with 65 pieces. Prices range from $8,000 to $200,000, and more styles are being added to the collection.
Named after the cities Jhaveri has visited on her travels, from Amsterdam to Kyoto, the high jewelry pieces include rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces distinguished by blindingly white diamonds in special cuts, as in the London ring, which “might look like just an oval engagement ring,” she says, “but the shield-shaped diamonds that flank the oval on either side give it a truly special and royal look.”
Grown Brilliance’s dramatic collars include the Monaco necklace—laden with more than 157 carats of fancy-shape diamonds—whose design was inspired by the opulent halls of the royal palace of Monaco. Another is the Cusco necklace, which features more than 152 carats of diamonds and is designed to evoke the way “the beaming lights of the Plaza de Armas” in the ancient Peruvian city “dance and dazzle against the dark night to create a stunning and romantic setting,” Jhaveri says.
She also points to the consistent quality of the diamonds in Grown Brilliance’s high jewelry, which tend to fall in the D-E-F range. “Because we can control the growing, we make sure that we’re not producing yellow diamonds or lower-colored diamonds,” she says.
Top: Cusco necklace in 18k white gold with 152.69 cts. t.w. lab-grown diamonds, $178,000
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