As always, Diamant is highly committed to sourcing ethical diamonds. We maintain a zero tolerance policy toward conflict diamonds, and we strictly adhere to the Kimberly Process for all of our diamonds. At the moment, we are making every possible effort to ensure that we will not source diamonds which are mined or processed in Russia. #StandwithUkraine Find out more at https://ukraine.europarl.europa.eu/en/home.html The post Stand With Ukraine appeared first on Diamant ..read more

Ah the Pliers, an absolutely essential piece of jewellery making kit whether you’re beading or setting a €50,000 diamond. They can cost you a euro or a hundred, the quality most assuredly being reflected in the price. And you need more than one. It comes from the french word for bending, another jewellery term with french origins! And while i suppose the cutters shouldn’t be in this far from comprehensive list, they are. Round Nose Pliers Primarily used to bend wire for jump rings, chain making, filigree work, and wire wrapping. Both jaws have a round cross-section and taper to a fine point at ..read more

Most people dont know the utter complexity of what goes into the making of jewellery. Ignoring the many layers of complex design and focusing and the more relatable tools heres the first part in a synopsis of the kind of tools that can be used. While this varies wildly from piece to piece. This can only highlight the variety of tools that can be used in creating what in outward appearances appears to be a simple and refined piece of jewellery….. So where to start, HOW ABOUT HAMMERS? So many varieties of all the below hammers, but here’s a quick overview……. Rawhide mallet – soft than plastic, s ..read more

AUGUST HOLIDAYS This year we have decided to close up shop for the first two weeks in August. In previous years we have stayed open but as our Antwerp diamond suppliers cutters polishers dippers goldsmiths etc go on holidays en masse. We figured we may as well join, in spirit anyway! WHY? So why do Europeans collectively lay down their tools for so much of August. Apparently it stems back to early industrial factories and the logic that an assembly does not function very well when shorthanded and can in fact be dangerous it made sense for them to take holidays at the same time with the factory ..read more

This beautiful gemstone has been a favourite in varying cultures for thousands of years. Amethyst is the traditional and modern birthstone for February and for Pisces. Amethyst is derived from the Greek, amethystos, which can be translated as ‘not drunken’. They both wore amethyst and carved drinking vessels from it in the belief it would prevent them from becoming intoxicated. It is even said that they would sometimes drink while holding a gemstone in their mouth. They were possibly drunk when they came up with the idea. It is a type of Quartz and ranges from a light pinkish violet to a deep ..read more

Its blue monday, supposedly the most depressing day of the year.  So in a ridiculously tenuous link lets talk blue gems in an attempt to cheer us all up.   There is a variety of blue stones to suit every budget. Starting with the most expensive blue diamond.  A properly blue diamond is formed by a boron impurity absorbing red light and.  The most expensive blue diamond ever sold at auction was the Oppenheimer blue diamond in 2016 for $57.5 million. Second on my list is blue sapphire. Worshipped throughout the ages it was believed by the persians to make the sky blue w ..read more

DO propose at Christmas Christmas can be a magically romantic time without extra hard work on your part so its unsurprising that many people choose this time of year to propose. It also come with a host of benefits like a lot of friends and family are home when they wouldn’t usually be so its great that everyone finds out about your engagement and celebrates together. DON’T propose at Christmas You’re stealing christmas, how dare you, you upstart, the cheek to try and make yourselves the centre of attention! Beware of overloading the holidays, there is already so much going on, probably even a ..read more

  Well there has to be something to mark the season of Hallowe’en.   And while sharing horror stories linked to famous Gems, it is convenient for us all that these stories are linked to exceptionally large and Pricey Gemstones. Most of us are unlikely to ever own, let alone hold one of these, but we are lucky enough to get to see some of them in Museums around the world. So why are these gemstones so cursed ? They’re not, I’m sorry , they’re just not.  They do however feature in some intriguing stories and bloody history! Why do they keep cropping up in all these gruesome t ..read more

Occasionally we get a request to have old rings of sentimental value, to be reused in the making of a new ring.   Generally they are the engagement, eternity or wedding rings of a relative. We have approached this in a number of ways over the years. So Starting with the metal. THE MELT ? “Can you please melt down my ring and make a new ring out of it?” We can but we’d rather not; here are a number of downfalls to this method. You don’t get as much gold back, you always lose a bit when you melt it down and roll it out so you may not end up with enough gold to make a new ring. So then ..read more

Answer is an emphatic YES. ….but as that would make a very short blog ill try to expand a bit. First off I doubt man-made is the only descriptor you’ve heard around diamonds. Real Diamonds, Natural diamonds, fake diamonds, synthetic diamonds, artificial diamonds and any other adjectives you can think of. Heres a break down- Real diamonds The cubic crystalline form of carbon. Whether it was dug out of the ground or grown in a lab doesn’t matter. Natural diamond Real diamond that is naturally occurring. Nearly completely formed of carbon( miniscule amounts of other elements give diamonds their c ..read more