The shape of things

Natural fancy colour diamonds can be found in most of the common shapes of their white counterparts. However, some faceting styles can maximize the colour of a fancy, which is especially useful when a stone’s saturation is lower. The radiant cut is very common, particularly for fancy light or fancy yellow stones, although you will see it in other colours, too. Cushion cuts have become very popular, as well as variations on the modified square shape. Round cuts are perhaps less common in larger sizes, while emerald cuts and baguettes are even less prevalent. For more rare colours like pink and blue, you may find stones that are either cut too shallow or deep because cutters are loath to waste any of the precious rough. When cut to excellent proportions, a natural fancy colour diamond is truly a rare thing of beauty. You may also see other fancy shape stones whose cut was likely chosen to maximize the recovery from the rough, again to avoid loss of valuable material. Black diamond melee is usually diamond cut for ease of use as pavé. For larger black stones, a brilliant cut is a waste of money, since you are paying by the carat for weight that adds nothing to appearance. Instead, high-dome rose cuts with many facets maximize their impact. Black diamonds do tend to have cavities and other surface imperfections, so look for the cleanest stones possible.

Complement or contrast?

Coloured diamonds offer many opportunities for the creative jeweller. Larger stones as the focal point of a design or pavé-set melee to provide visual support for the main stone offer effective use of coloured diamonds. Both contrasting and complementary combinations can increase these gems’ impact. This is especially true when the diamond colour is not highly saturated. Pink diamonds look even pinker when they are set with white, yellow, or blue diamonds. Blue diamonds, if you are fortunate enough to be able to work with them, are tricky. Unless they are fancy intense or vivid blue, they tend not to look very blue on their own. Accenting them with white, pink, or soft yellow diamonds can be effective, as the contrast highlights the blue stone. The rich greens of emerald and tsavorite or the blues and violets of sapphire and tanzanite pop when combined with yellow or pink diamonds. Rubies look ‘redder’ next to yellow diamonds (just as they do against a gem dealer’s acid yellow stone paper). Black diamonds, on the other hand, provide a classic dramatic contrast when combined with white diamonds.