The retailers at the top of the list offer affordable products and fun, discovery-fueled experiences.
Rio Tinto continues telling its Story
Rio Tinto’s Diamonds with a Story campaign recently welcomed four new designers and launched a website created specifically for retailers, designers and manufacturers.

New York--Rio Tinto has four new designers and a new website for Diamonds with a Story, the marketing program launched three years ago to buoy demand for diamonds by shifting the focus from the four Cs to the stories behind the stones: where they came from, and what impact they had, and are having, on a local level.
The website, DiamondsWithAStory.com, is for retailers, designers and manufacturers and went live earlier this year, around the time of the Las Vegas shows.
The site contains a tab for Product & Marketing, which includes images of in-store materials that are provided to retailers as well as sales training contact information. DiamondsWithAStory.com also has some consumer research, as well as a link to subscribe to the newsletter for regularly updated research.
The website is in both English and Chinese.
Diamonds With a Story consists of four collections--Cutting Impact, Color My World, Mixed Medium and Shaped By Origin--all priced at $500 to $5,000 retail. Designers who have previously created pieces for these collections include Kara Ross, Phyllis Bergman, Alexandra Hart and Zoltan David.
At JCK Las Vegas 2015, Rio Tinto brought four new designers into the Diamonds with a Story fold.
Sonoma County, Calif.-based Jennifer Dawes, a metalsmith who launched Dawes Design in 2000, focuses on using responsibly sourced materials to create “green” jewelry, so she created pieces for Cutting Impact, the collection targeted at millennial consumers who desire products that are green.
Matthew Campbell Laurenza is a U.S.-born, Hong Kong-based jewelry designer whose often-colorful designs have netted a lot of red carpet time over the years. Laurenza created a line of jewelry, some of which are designed to fit uniquely-cut gemstones that are interchangeable, for Mixed Medium, which is aimed at consumers looking for something unique.
Suzanne Kalan, who is known for her white diamonds and colored gemstone “Fireworks” baguette pieces, did pieces for Color My World using brown diamonds from the Argyle mine to make more affordable Fireworks.
And finally there is Sandy Leong, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is inspired by nature when she designs jewelry. Leong created for Shaped By Origin, which is for consumers who want to know from where their diamonds originated.
Each line includes 12 to 18 pieces, a mix of rings, earrings, necklaces and bracelets, in 18-karat gold and set with white and colored (gray and brown) diamonds from
The Latest

Daniel Bing was formerly the marketing director for the Americas at Vacheron Constantin.

In our Piece of the Week, the designers reimagine the tennis bracelet with green enamel wrapped around a strand of “Desert Diamonds.”

Submit your pieces for a chance to win in this year's competition.

The industry veterans join the podcast to discuss diamond marketing, the FTC Jewelry Guides, and lobbying for lower tariffs.


Founder Vik Westermann said the app is a “starting point” to inspire people to work with appraisers and gem labs, not replace them.

The Verdura brooch, which belonged to the late Virginia Fortune Ryan Ogilvy, was sold to a private collector in Asia.

Retailers are seeking new ways to attract customers, increase traffic, and create revenue – Estate buying events are a popular solution.

The five students were awarded a total of $10,000 through the nonprofit’s 2026 “Future of Jewelry Making” scholarship.

Steven Lerche is now beginning his term as the youngest member to become president of The Plumb Club’s elected executive committee.

Murphy will retire at the end of the year and Alexander, currently the company’s president, will take over at the start of 2027.

The jeweler is encouraging customers who own lookalike rings to come into the store and trade them for credit towards an authentic piece.

The new campaign, “You Are The Occasion,” discourages shoppers from saving their fine jewelry for special occasions only.

One is the driver who allegedly crashed a car into a Sacramento jewelry store in April, striking a 71-year-old employee who later died.

In a new column, Peter Smith posits that people actually enjoy putting together IKEA furniture, and the same is true for engagement rings.

9lakha Jewelers in Iselin, New Jersey, was the target of a smash-and-grab robbery on Aug. 8.

The jeweler has partnered with 818 Tequila to gift lab-grown diamond studs to a bride-to-be and their bridal party.

The exhibition will feature more than 100 drawings of stained-glass lampshades, windows, and more, many created by women and émigrés.

Marquise-cut diamonds in drop charms are the center of the new collection, reflecting the movement of a dancer in modular styles.

The inaugural Fort Lauderdale Jewelry, Antique, & Object Show will be held from Jan. 28 through Feb. 1, 2027.

The family-owned jeweler will open a new showroom in Bel Air, Maryland, this fall.

Amanda Ileana Hernandez is married to Carlos Hernandez, one of two men in prison for the 2024 murder of Michigan jeweler Hussein Murray.

The reimagined jewel, our Piece of the Week, trades the diamonds in the original 1998 design for blue, pink, yellow, and green sapphires.

Sponsored by American Gem Trade Association

In the United States, second-quarter sales were flat amid soft consumer sentiment and lower in-store traffic.

The 22-karat gold egg, sold at Batemans Auctioneers in the U.K., was part of a 1980s treasure hunt ad campaign for Cadbury Creme Eggs.

The expanded collections now feature hand-cut gemstones like topaz, tanzanite, chrysoprase, chalcedony, smoky quartz, and fire opal.






















