Your Cart is Empty
Diamonds can travel through the hands of many dealers until they reach their final destination in a beautiful piece of jewellery. For us, it's vital that we can trace ours back through these long and fragmented journeys to their sources. In the context of newly mined stones, a diamond's country and mine of origin is key to defining its ethical credentials. We work with carefully selected diamond suppliers who can provide us with this information.
We understand that the Kimberley Process - developed in 2003 with the aim of eradicating conflict diamonds - is flawed by a number of loopholes. That's why we go above and beyond to ensure that our diamonds have no ties to corruption or exploitation.
For starters, the Kimberley Process' definition of 'conflict diamonds' relates only to uncut stones, failing to take into consideration the working conditions and political climates of the cutting, polishing or distributing processes. Furthermore, the certification is only applied to collections of rough diamonds - never to a single rough stone. This makes one conflict diamond within an aggregate of conflict-free rough diamonds virtually impossible to identify.
100% TRACEABLE AND CONFLICT-FREE, BUT MINED ON A LARGE SCALE
Currently, the newly mined diamonds we work with most often are those of Canadian origin. Any diamond of 0.3ct or above is accompanied with a GIA certificate or similar. Larger stones are also laser-inscribed with a microscopic Canadamark, an independently verified certification assuring us of the diamond's Canadian provenance.
Mined under strict Canadian regulations and completely traceable, these diamonds pose no risk of association with conflict or illegality. However, with Canada producing 12.5% of the world's rough diamonds, these sparkling feats of nature are mined on a gargantuan scale, using open-pit methods that are devestating to the environment. If sustaining Planet Earth is a priority of yours, a Canadian diamond is perhaps not for you.
100% TRACEABLE, CONFLICT-FREE AND BENEFICIAL TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES
An artisanal diamond is a diamond extracted on a small scale by a miner working independently.
We currently source our artisanal diamonds from Ocean Diamonds, a company that employs professional divers in South Africa to retrieve diamonds from the coastal seabed. The divers' knowledge of the ocean means they know exactly where to discover the diamonds, avoiding unnecessary disturbance. Once brought to the surface with minimal trace, each diamond is passed on to a skilled local artisan for cutting and polishing.
Artisanal diamonds like these don't just tick the 'traceable' and 'environmentally conscious' boxes. They actively contribute to positive change in their area of origin, supporting the local diving and diamond production industries in South Africa.
ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE
Global warming has reached crisis point and it’s vital that we slow the rate at which we’re consuming water, land and energy. We'll never stop supporting small-scale miners, because their livelihood is legitimate - but it's time to start celebrating materials already above-ground too.
Alongside our new diamonds, we also offer recycled old-cut diamonds. By the nature of vintage, reclaimed diamonds can't be traced to their original source. We understand that this lack of transparency doesn't sit comfortably with everyone, but the beauty of recycling diamonds is in minimising the need for further mining - offering a beautiful unearthed gem a second lease of life instead.
The 'old cut' is an antique cut characterised by facets that are chunkier and more organic than the precise, machine-cut facets of the modern brilliant-cut. Faceted by hand, old-cut diamonds boast a depth of sparkle that's unmatched by the surface sparkle of modern diamonds; they draw the eye inwards. Old-cut stones are fabled chunks of history; unrepeatable and bursting with character!
We're romantic at heart. What we love most about natural diamonds is their magic. There are few things as beautiful as a miracle grown over thousands of years by Mother Nature.
Lab-grown diamonds don't boast the same unique lifestories as natural stones, but they can be fun to work with, enabling us as jewellery designers to choose from a spectrum of cuts and colours at a fraction of the traditional price. Though lab-grown diamonds still require energy to grow - with CO2 emissions far from minimal - they're somewhat ecological in that they don't require further mining. It's worth bearing in mind, however, that some lab-grown diamonds are more sustainable than others. You can learn more about these differences here.
If you have your heart set on a lab-grown stone, please get in touch. We're open to exploring the options available to us.
Historically, the diamonds of the highest value are those that are colourless, symmetrical and lacking defects. If there's any such thing as 'perfect' then diamonds of this calibre are it. In our opinion, however, 'perfect' doesn't exist; we believe beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
A salt and pepper diamond is a diamond with a particularly high volume of black and white inclusions. Inclusions are small internal ‘birthmarks’ that develop throughout the lengthy process of formation, appearing in the form of clouds, feathers, grains, needles or pinpoints.
Sadly traceable salt and pepper diamonds with sound ethical credentials are few and far between, so we don't stumble upon these one-in-a-million wonders all that often. However, we're always ready to try our best!
