From heart emojis to hands holding out to form a heart, heart motifs abound right now, and the jewelry world got the memo: heart-shaped stones seem to be everywhere.
The large heart-shaped diamond now worn by Lauren Sanchez – It said Estimated to be 25 to 30 carats, the ring that Jeff Bezos used to propose made headlines recently during the couple’s trip around the Mediterranean.
There was some competition in May at the Cannes Film Festival, where Natalie Portman honored emerging talent at the Trophée Chopard event in a blue Dior dress matching Chopard’s necklace of 25 sapphire hearts, totaling 119.95 carats, with each one adorned with diamonds. A few days later, Gigi Hadid was photographed on the red carpet in a ring from Messika Toi & Moi that combined two sparkling hearts: a 7.06-carat pink diamond and a 16.18-carat yellow diamond, each set with white diamonds.
At Christie’s auction that broke the record-breaking $202 million for Austrian billionaire Heidi Horten’s jewelry collection, a number of heart-shaped diamonds surpassed her lofty estimates, like a 15.05-carat pink-orange diamond that landed for CHF2.5 million ($2.8 million).
Once considered tacky or even vulgar, heart-shaped stones are “back in the game,” said Valerie Messika, founder of her Paris-based diamond jewelry brand. “When I was younger, I wasn’t easy of hearts. They were so cute and so romantic.”
Indeed, the pandemic has pushed them back, she said. “There are more declarations of love and the need to say I love you — or ‘I love myself,'” she said.
The heart stones are currently a bestseller for Israeli agency Paloma Diamonds, which sold several heart-shaped colored diamonds, including a purplish pink diamond, at the Couture jewelry show in Las Vegas in May. This followed what the company described as strong sales of heart shapes earlier that month at GemGenève in Switzerland.
“The heart is the symbol of love — the symbol of affection,” said Benjamin Zino, Paloma Sales Manager. “And then you combine that with diamonds and the effect is an explosive mix. It’s real glamour.” Currently, he said, buyers are shunning the classic, round, brilliant cut diamonds in favor of fancy cuts and shapes, and the more unusual the better.
When it comes to hearts, stylists agree that shape is everything. Caroline Scheufele, co-president of Chopard, said they are her favorite and that she favors “generous hearts”, which she described as “neither too thin nor too fat – not like Mickey Mouse ears”. (In addition to using the embellishment of high jewelry pieces, like the one Ms. Portman wore to Cannes, Chopard has a Happy Hearts jewelry collection featuring her look.)
Today’s heart jewelry is described by London jeweler Roxanne First as “absolutely simple, but in a wonderful way.” It is also specific to the form. “It should be somewhat chubby, rather than thin and angular,” she said. A plump little cherub heart makes you feel warm and tender instead of “Oh, that’s a bit tacky.” “
First lady sets her heart-shaped stones in simple designs, making gems the focal point, like Honor’s Baby Blue Necklace ($789), named after Mrs. First’s daughter, features a 1.8-carat blue topaz heart on 14 Simple. Karat gold chain.
It also offers chain love rings in 14k gold, set with 8mm green tourmaline, citrine, or amethyst hearts ($490). Colorful hearts are fun and playful, Ms. First said, especially when compared to a white diamond heart, which would cost much more and appear to be more serious jewelry. (Master Zeno of Paloma noted that cutting out a heart-shape produces more waste than making a finely cut round gem.)
Sophia Hirsch, managing director of Hirsch London jewelers, also loves colorful gemstones, but in funky shapes—like a 10.8-carat black opal heart-shaped pendant with a shape she describes as “thicker-sided rather than a perfect heart.”
She said, “It has personality and a wonderful play of colour, with soft pastels that shift slightly to violets and reds in the daylight.”
Gucci plays with color and size: its latest high jewelry collection, shown in Florence, Italy, in June, featured an 80.8-carat yellow heart-shaped sapphire set with diamonds suspended from a yellow gold chain dotted with multicolored sapphires and diamonds, and set in an ultra-thin set-set knot With gemstones on the clasp.
Graff features mixed colors with different cuts, such as the Tribal Heart earrings, where a 13.10-carat yellow diamond heart rests on a mix of pear, marquise, and baguette diamonds. The London-based jeweler owns one of the largest heart-shaped stones in the world, the 157.8-carat Infinity Diamond, which was cut from a 373-carat rough diamond discovered at the Karwe mine in Botswana, and acquired by Graff in 2017. In For 2021, the house has paired the Heart of Infinity with 18 other heart-shaped diamonds in a tiara that was unveiled to celebrate the opening of the Graff flagship store in Tokyo.
Hearts are in high demand among clients right now, said Nicholas Wainwright, chairman of Boodles in London, so one of the house’s new fine jewelry suites, called Florence in honor of the city, featured an 8.33-carat diamond heart necklace and pendant. Matching ring set with a 5.39 carat heart of diamond.
Boodles also makes jewels with smaller hearts, like a pair of platinum Firework earrings, each with 13 heart-shaped diamonds, or a cozy sautoir-style beach necklace dangling nine diamond hearts.
Mr. Wainwright said: “Obviously we love the big stones, hearts of three, five, 10 karat, but it’s the smaller heart stones that make such delightful jewelry—individually and which help with the design, rather than just using round stones again.”
Boodles also plays with colorful hearts, like her 18k gold heart choker that pairs 27 diamond hearts totaling 12.27 carats (and adorned with halo-encrusted gold hearts) with 17 sapphire hearts totaling 55.87 carats. There is also another version with 33 hearts of diamonds and 15 hearts of sapphires.
Three heart motifs in one gem? It must be love.