AN ABSOLUTE GEM OF AN IDEA

Ian Douglas of the Village Goldsmith has devised a way for diamonds to avoid claws holding them in place, but to be instead held by a laser-cut micro-groove underneath.

Any jewellery designer worth their salt knows that enhancing the sparkle of the stones is paramount. This is achieved by allowing the maximum amount of light to enter the stone, which means creating a setting with minimal light obstruction. This has to be carefully balanced with the requirement to hold the stone securely in place. This is typically achieved with claws, clasps or enveloping metal, but a Wellington, NZ jeweller has come up with a new setting that eliminates the need for these. It’s called The Floeting Diamond, and it’s the invention of Ian Douglas, founder of the Village Goldsmith. “Like jewellers around the world, I have always been asked by customers if it was possible to have a ring that displays a diamond without the claws surrounding it, and until now the answer has always been ‘no’,” Douglas says. The Floeting Diamond is held in place by a micro-groove that has been laser-cut around the underside of the diamond in such a way that its light return is not affected in any way. The idea first came to Douglas 20 years ago, but it’s taken 10 years of development, helped by advances in technology, for the concept to become a reality. “We’ve harnessed leading expertise from around the globe to bring Floeting to life, including a master diamond cutter, laser engineers, metallurgists, scientists, and testing laboratories, who have all been key to realising the vision of a floating diamond,” says Douglas.