Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design Blog

I am very excited because I have just bought two very very unusual and beautiful red diamonds!

Natural red diamonds are very very rare and valuable and are really museum-pieces out of our reach financially. There is tried and tested technology to treat white diamonds to turn them blue or green for example and these beautiful and unusual treated diamonds have been available for at least a couple of years. For example:

However achieving a good way of treating a white diamond to make it pink or red has been harder and for some time has been a bit of a "holy grail" in the jewellery industry. Some of these have recently been offered to the industry but they are basically coated with a layer of "pink" and so this is not a proper solution and in my opinion isn't really a true treatment of the gemstone as it isn't entirely permanent.

However, I recently met a new contact who has been working on a brand new diamond treatment method which he tells me was invented in India. These are called "Infusion Diamonds". These diamonds undergo a form of ion induction colour treatment that substantially enhances the colour appearance of diamond and this actually changes the surface layer of diamond rather than being a kind of coating. The treatment is completely radiation-free and provides a consistent, reliable and predictable method for producing the desired colour shade without many of the drawbacks of existing colour treatments for diamonds such as irradiation. These infusion diamonds are stable under harsh chemical environments as well as elevated temperature that are typically used during jewellery stone setting, repairs and cleaning.

My new diamond contact has very very recently tried treating white diamonds to achieve beautiful pink diamonds (we have been working with similar diamonds from a different source for about 6 months - see here). These are beautiful - such a lovely shade of pink. In addition to this, he has just treated naturally cognac coloured diamonds with the same methods and has managed to achieve a beautiful fiery red - they really are stunning. I am really impressed with this and so have just purchased a 1.4ct diamond and 0.25cts diamond to make into ready-to-wear rings. We hope that these will get the interest they deserve and can source other similar red diamonds for commissions too. As I said, this is "hot off the press" and I am not sure, but we may well be the only UK jeweller working with this new technology at this stage.

Regarding cost - they will be more expensive than similar clarity white diamonds of the same size but are not out of reach and the rings will both be within reach of most of our customers.

I have designed a simple and elegant platinum solitaire engagement ring with the 0.25cts brilliant cut stone. I have designed a ring inspired by a candle flame for the 1.4cts pear shaped red diamond which is made from predominantly platinum and includes 18ct rose gold in a the simple and elegant shape that defines our HKJD design style.

Best wishes

Purple ruled the runway this fall season from lilac, magenta, violet, lavender, plum to pomegranate. This wonderfully romantic colour represents luxury, royalty, wealth and sophistication so is perfect for the up and coming party season!

These sumptuous shades were from collections by Alberta Ferretti, Zac Posen, Donna Karen, Matthew Williamson and Oscar de la renta. To see the full collections the best place to go is www.style.com.

Pulling off wearing this bold punch of colour means selecting the right shade for the occasion and time of day. If you’re not daring enough to go head-to-toe in purple why not accessorise!

For evening wear go for deep rich jewel tones with metallic details:

Opt for fresher and less pungent shades such as lilac and lavender for a more feminine daytime look:

Our reactions to colour are influenced by a combination of biological, psychological and cultural reasons. To find out what messages you could be sending out by the colours you wear visit http://www.thesoulelement.com/aura_colors.htm just for a bit of fun!

I hope you have fun wearing purple this season and I do just have to mention how on trend our website is www.purple-label.com! Maybe our carrier bags will become this season's It bag!

See you soon,

Hi everyone,

I hope by now you have all had a chance to look at our collections at www.purple-label.com. I thought that you may like to keep updated with what is coming up in the near future, so below is our press release for Autumn. New designs are being added to the website all the time and you will notice an autumnal influence has appeared since the 3rd September which will carry us through to the winter collections. After this we will be rapidly approaching Christmas and we will have a stunning new collection launched on Wednesday 24th October so look out for our Winter and Christmas press releases too. Here is a sneak preview of a few of my favourites from the autumn collection, available online and in our showrooms now!

Press Release – Autumn 2007

Seasonal "Must have" jewellery from Purple Label

Whether it is rain or shine we all need a little colour in ours lives and so Purple Label, by Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, has designs which are perfect to compliment the transformation from those summer dresses through to autumnal, less delicate wear.

Harriet Kelsall says:

"In jewellery fashion we will see a strong continuation of green and aqua. Turquoise looks sensational for those with darker skin or with a little sun-tan left from the summer. Some strong primary colours are also still in and some more subtle colours in striking shapes, and some longer length necklaces will also still be noticeable in designer dress jewellery."

The new collection includes:

Gold Shell Disk & Swarovski Crystal Pendant - £39.95

The golden colours of this shell disk shimmer in the light and two crystals pick up the tones in the shell and add a bit of extra sparkle! The shell is about 30mm in diameter and the pendant sits on a 16 inch silver flexible chain.

Kinetic Pendant with Jasper, Jade and Hematite - £54.95

This is a lovely, tactile pendant with a jade and hematite sphere that nestle within an oval piece of green jasper.

Chocolate Brown Seed Pearl & Crystal Necklace - £48.94

This necklace is wonderfully sparkly and consists of chocolate brown oat shaped seed pearls and Swarovski crystals. There are 5 pendants spaced at the front - the central one being about 32mm long and each pendant is finished off with a sterling silver sphere.

Amazonite and graduated teal crystal necklace - £38.95

This necklace is made from a Russian amazonite drop which is about 40mm long. This is complimented by graduating clear to green Swarovski crystals.

Harriet Kelsall says:

"Our Fashion collections for Purple-Label are inspired by fashion trends with an emphasis on the unpretentious and the comfortable."

The full Press Release is available here.

Take care!