From un-usual cuts to inspiring form, the latest diamond designs are beautifully unconventional. Buying diamond jewellery is like buying cars – there are many places to get them, but if you want a piece that makes heads turn, you go straight to the official dealerships. Depending on your budget, you can get a Lexus, a BMW or a Ferrari. The key is avoiding the run-of-the-mill. An assessment of a diamond’s 4Cs can tell you if a stone you invested in is flawless or not, and if it’s a certain colour and cut. But does a graded lab report guarantee timeless beauty and wearability? Take your style cues from these diamond innovators and front runners: LIVING LARGE Some jewellers such as Graff Diamonds focus on spectacular stones of more than 10 to more than 100ct. One of its latest achievements is The Eternal Twins, a pair of diamond earrings with a whopping 132.53ct. The pair has two equally sized emerald-cut, D-colour flawless diamonds exceeding 50ct each, which both came from a 269ct rough from the Lucara Karowe mine in Botswana. London-based Graff Diamonds has a reputation for handling more extraordinary, notable diamonds than any other jeweller. The opportunity to cut two stones of such magnitude from the same rough is not only exceptionally rare, but demonstrates the exemplary cutting and polishing expertise of the house. ARCHITECTURAL WONDERS Inspired by iconic buildings in London, De Beers transforms the Albert Bridge, Battersea Power Station, Elizabeth Tower and London Eye into five wearable sets, which, according to CEO Francois Delage, use fluid craftsmanship, a variety of diamond cuts and skilful jewellery techniques to reflect water and light. Among the highlights of the collection is the Battersea Light necklace, which consists of emerald and oval-cut diamonds set to resemble the art-deco theatre of the Battersea Power Station. IN LIVING COLOUR According to Lily Leung, founding chairman of Asia Fancy Color Diamond Association, while the market prices of colourless diamonds have dropped, prices of fancy coloured diamonds have continued to rise, evident in the astronomical prices that some colour diamond pieces have fetched at auction. In November, a 12.03ct blue diamond, was sold at US$48.5 million, at Sotheby’s Geneva. Named The Blue Moon of Josephine, after the buyer’s daughter, the stone set the world auction record for any diamond per carat. Leung says that apart from being great investment pieces, fancy coloured diamonds offer variety in design. Chanel is one of the high jewellers experimenting with fancy colours as yellow diamonds are among the key materials for its latest high-jewellery collection, Blés Vendôme. A series inspired by wheat, which is a symbol of wealth and prosperity in France, and was also considered a good luck charm by Gabrielle Chanel, the collection includes Chanel Impression de Blé, a ring in 18ct white and yellow gold with a 2.7ct marquise-cut fancy intense yellow diamond, surrounded by multicoloured and colourless diamonds. The jeweller also used fancy yellow diamonds in one-of-a-kind pieces like the Fête des Moissons or Harvest Festival necklace, crafted in 18ct white and yellow gold and featuring roughly 120ct of yellow and white diamonds, including a 25ct brilliant-cut intense yellow diamond at its centre.