When you love diamond, you love to see it being used in surprising ways. The history of diamond jewelry in the 20th and 21st centuries is a flourishing of styles and designs that put the centuries prior to shame.

Whether you prefer the vintage looks devised in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods, or ultra-modern styles that could only come from cutting-edge technology, there’s always something unexpected in each decade.

Today, we’re going to discuss some intriguing styles in the world of jewelry design.

Wedding Bands

When you think about “wedding bands“, don’t you usually think about an unadorned, minimalist gold band? While that’s traditionally been the go-to when it comes to wedding bands, diamonds have become an acceptable, enjoyable part of choosing your wedding band.

One of the most creative options for new wedding band is burnished diamonds. Burnishing is the process of “burying” diamonds into the metal to create a flat surface. It’s a cool look, and if you don’t want your band to compete with the glitz of your engagement ring, try this style out.

Engagement Rings

It’s traditional that engagement rings are where women get to go crazy with a big, flashy diamond, and we’re definitely on board with that trend. But instead of doing a classical cut of diamond in your engagement ring, why not aim for something different?

When it comes to engagement rings, aim for a rare or vintage cut to put at the heart of the ring. Our suggestions? The interesting internal patterns of the Asscher cut; marquise cuts, which are usually chosen for side stones; or cushion-cut diamonds, like those offered by A. Jaffe, which have the added benefit of holding color better than any other cut of diamond.

Fashion Jewelry

Diamond rings are de rigueur when it comes to fashion jewelry. The fiery clear stone makes a beautiful partner for luxury fashion, but what sets fashion rings apart from bridal jewelry is that there’s no standard way for fashion rings to be designed.

This gives diamond fashion rings a tremendous freedom when it comes to their design, and avant garde possibilities are on the table: Curved, diamond-studded rings with multiple levels connected by chains. Rings made with a dozen shanks, round-cut diamonds going up their spine. All of these and more are possible when it comes to diamond fashion jewelry.

Watches

You may not think of “diamonds” when you think about watches, but when it comes to women’s watches, plenty of designers have added the fire of well-cut diamonds to their timepieces.

Look to designers like Movado and Baume & Mercier to see what diamonds can do: Diamonds can be added to the case and bezel as an accent for the watch itself, and they can be used instead of enamel or gold to form the numerals for a watch. In any case, diamonds make a watch blur the line between “timepiece” and “jewelry”.

Tell us what you think!

Give us your ideas about the best places to put diamonds. What are your diamond designers in the jewelry industry? Check out our  Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages to give us some ideas!

Don’t forget: If you’re looking for contemporary men’s watch and jewelry styles, check out our sister blog Luxurious J&T for some really cool articles!