Diamond shapes + cuts

When it comes to a diamond’s shape, anything other than round is called a ‘fancy’ shape and ATTIC has a few favourites among them for creating clean, uncomplicated designs. Keep in mind that the stone’s shape refers to its outline when looking at it from above; it’s sometimes confused with cut, which actually refers to how the facets are arranged or positioned.

The brilliant cut, for example, is the style in which the light and sparkle of the diamond is maximized with a wide table top and facets coming down to a point underneath, while the rosecut is distinctly flat at the bottom with all the facets arranged on top. The step cut is a more subdued and elegant arrangement of facets most common in square or rectangular stones, like the classic emerald cut. Although these terms initially referred only to the cut of diamonds, they can also be used to describe other precious gemstones if you’re in search of a sapphire or something else. The clean lines of the oval, pear, marquise, and emerald cuts are some of our favourites to work with, with their strong graphic shapes lending themselves well to simple solitaire settings.