To mark the opening of its flagship in Tokyo at the close of 2021, Graff rolled out an extra-special piece: the Infinity tiara. At the center of this swirling diadem is one of the largest heart-shaped diamonds in existence, weighing 157.80 carats.
While most do not have access to stones of such magnitude, there is pent-up demand for sizable diamonds in the market right now, allowing designers to experiment with ever-larger rocks. The question is, how can they up the carat count without tipping into vulgarity?
One option is a type of herd immunity: By using many important diamonds in a single piece, as Fernando Jorge does in his High Flare suite, designers can hide larger stones in plain sight, making them seem somehow less ostentatious than they would be alone. Other jewelers are choosing to set sizable stones in edgier designs than would have been traditional for such important gems — inverted or tilted cuts, unusual settings rather than a simple solitaire, a celebration of fancy colors.
Today’s high-carat shoppers want more than a commodity; they want a piece of precious art. By balancing design with gemological opulence, jewelers avoid the risk of big bling looking dated and out of touch.
