If you want to know more about diamonds, where they come from, their qualities, and how they are classified, you can read more below.
Personally, I think diamonds are fantastic because they are both one of the hardest materials found, can withstand everything from everyday tasks, and not least, they are incredibly beautiful to look at. Both the functional and the aesthetic aspects are top-notch.
In my jewelry, I use conflict-free diamonds, which means they do not come from areas that support violence or civil war.
Are diamonds forever?
A diamond consists of carbon atoms that have been pressed together into perfect crystal lattices over millions of years. Several kilometers below the Earth's surface, about 47 million years ago, a series of volcanoes erupted, bringing the diamonds to the surface. We are happy about this, because it meant we got this super hard and fine gemstone that we today call diamonds.
In addition to jewelry, (synthetic) diamonds are used in many industries, for example, saw blades and drills for stone, high-performance sports equipment, music loudspeakers due to their properties such as hardness which makes them scratch-resistant, they are unaffected by chemicals, good at dissipating heat and do not expand at high heat, super transparent, and many other things.
In jewelry, it is especially The De Beers Group, a world-renowned giant corporation that extracts and sells diamonds, that has made the diamond valuable. After World War II, De Beers hired an advertising agency to create a campaign where they marketed diamonds as "A diamond is forever." This slogan, along with other post-war phenomena such as Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds are a girl's best friend," has proven to brand the diamond as the ultimate love stone to propose with. De Beers has been a big part of inventing this narrative and thus made the diamond a symbol of love between two people.
The Four (Five) C's
The four C's, which were originally also an advertising tool from De Beers, have now become the common way we talk about diamond quality and calculate the price based on them:
Carat - is the size by weight and is written "carat" or "ct" in Danish.
Color - white is the most commonly used diamond color in jewelry, but they also come in, for example, pink, and the more intense the color, the more expensive the diamond.
Cut - how the diamond is cut and polished. A diamond with the perfect cut will light up and sparkle in rainbow colors when light hits the gemstone. The most common is the brilliant cut, which has 57-58 facets and reflects light best. Other very beautiful cuts include oval, cushion, princess, and pear.
Clarity - is the clarity of the diamond, which refers to how many inclusions (dark spots) are in the diamond. If there are a good number of inclusions in the stone, it will affect the diamond's reflections and sparkle. Diamonds without inclusions are rare and therefore in the expensive end of the price range.
The fifth, and newer C stands for Certificate. It guarantees that the diamonds are extracted from conflict-free areas and are not used to support civil wars, etc.
Super powers
Said to be a fragment of eternity, strengthen love, and reduce the chance of delirium, insanity, and fear - what's not to like!
My advice
- When you are looking for a diamond in the size from 0.20 ct and up, you start to be able to see the inclusions, and therefore my advice here is to choose a good quality, for example, VVS or VS, which means very small inclusions that the eye cannot detect.
- Although a part of the romantic storytelling about diamonds comes from De Beers campaigns, I personally think diamonds are fantastic. The reason for my fascination is that diamonds sparkle in all the colors of the rainbow, and it is a gemstone that maintains its brilliance and shape for many years. I have therefore designed most of my collection based on timeless gold jewelry with diamonds - see them here.
Send me a message if you have any questions about diamonds, and/or wish for me to design a unique ring or piece of jewelry for you - you can read more about the process here.
Best regards, Michell