(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The first commercially produced Brilliants were rounded and derived from dodecahedral crystals, or were refashioned from Burgundian Point Cuts or Pointed Star Cuts. They became so popular that craftsmen had to find ways of adapting the design to octahedral rough (of which there was already a far greater supply), and applying the same type of faceting to square outlines without too much loss of weight. The result was the Square Brilliant, a very slightly rounded gem with sharp corners and obvious four-part symmetry in the main facets—a reversion in style from the Baroque to the Renaissance.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Antony Gormley
Antony Gormley is a well-known English sculptor + many of his works are based on moulds taken from his own body, an interesting concept + I think his works are aimed at the general public + it's natural and beautiful. I liked it.
Useful link:
www.antonygormley.com
Useful link:
www.antonygormley.com
Film Festival Online
Babelgum, a new online video site, founded by Italian billionaire, Silvio Scaglia, is interesting because they have got good ideas + technology + money + if they could attract viewers and advertisers + terrific luck, I think with high profile directors like Spike Lee behind the The Babelgum Online Film Festival, Babelgum could provide an interesting business model for the film world.
Useful link:
www.babelgum.com
Useful link:
www.babelgum.com
Chinese Art
Economist writes about the beauty and rarity of the extraordinarily decorative precious ritual vessels used by the Chinese for the ancestral temple + the bidding frenzy by the Chinese art collectors + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10831852
Monday, March 10, 2008
Wikinomics
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott + Anthony D. Williams is an interesting book with a lot insights on mass collaboration + the book made me to rethink + I believe the whole concept is about knowledge management + expect modified versions in a highly competitive and dynamic marketplace.
Useful link:
www.wikinomics.com
Useful link:
www.wikinomics.com
Crystal Vision
Designboom + Swarovski are inviting entries for the international design competition + the subject is: Crystal Vision + they are looking at innovative product concepts for the Swarovski stores.
Useful links:
http://www.designboom.com/crystalvision.html
www.swarovski.com
www.designboom.com
Useful links:
http://www.designboom.com/crystalvision.html
www.swarovski.com
www.designboom.com
Cushion-Shaped Brilliants
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
A cushion-shaped diamond is either square or rectangular, with clearly rounded corners and usually slightly rounded sides. The name, of fairly recent origin, is not ideal since real cushions are often completely round or obsolutely square, but it is far better than the terms Old Mine Cut or Old Miner which were introduced at the end of the last century to describe the kind of cut applied to most Brazilian rough. The fashion for round Brilliants, incidentally, coincided with the discovery of the South African mines.
Many of the Baroque cuts had cushion-shaped outlines, but the shape was less important than the fashioning. Cushion shapes were introduced more and more when the old Table Cuts were refashioned. Many Table Cuts had blunt or missing corners which had to be disposed of without reducing the size of the gem. The easiest way to do this was to round the corners off. The second half of the eighteenth century was a great period for recutting unfashionable designs, and the cutters aimed to achieve a slightly larger display from octahedral rough than would have been possible if the gems had been given sharp corners. From this point on, jewelers used a regular mixture—which appears to have been entirely acceptable—of square and cushion-shaped Brilliants, combined with occasional diamonds of round, pear-shaped or other outlines. Normally the gems were placed according to their shapes in order to accentuate the design of the piece of jewelry, but sometimes—as, for instance, in opulent necklaces made soley of large diamonds—the stones were arranged in order of size irrespective of shape. As long as bruting remained a long and arduous process, nearly all dodecahedrons were fashioned into cushion shapes. We have evidence of this in the writings of several authos: Dutens (1773), for instance, says that ‘de nos jours on prefère la forme dodecaèdre, comme las plus propre à acquerir par le taillage la belle proportion voulue..’
Today, the circular Brilliant Cut is the standard, and other outlines are only applied when the rough particularly favors them. But during the last hundred years a number of large Cushion-shaped Brilliants have been fashioned, including the Tiffany, the Rojtman, the Jubilee, the Assher and the Red Cross.
The Deepdeene Diamond (104.52 ct) was widely discussed in the 1970s when questions were raised about is unusual golden-yellow color. With the Tiffany diamond, there has been exaggerated retention of weight simply in order to have a diamond of over 100 ct, a goal which could not have been achieved if correct proportions had been applied. The drawings show that the diamond had a very large table (c. 64 percent) and very wide crown angles (over 50°), resulting in a high crown. The girdle is too thick (6 percent) for a gem of this size. The pavilion, however, is well proportioned; it follows the rule of 45° angles and has a reflecting culet of about 7 percent. The broad pavilion facets indicate that it was cut in the second half of the nineteenth century.
A cushion-shaped diamond is either square or rectangular, with clearly rounded corners and usually slightly rounded sides. The name, of fairly recent origin, is not ideal since real cushions are often completely round or obsolutely square, but it is far better than the terms Old Mine Cut or Old Miner which were introduced at the end of the last century to describe the kind of cut applied to most Brazilian rough. The fashion for round Brilliants, incidentally, coincided with the discovery of the South African mines.
Many of the Baroque cuts had cushion-shaped outlines, but the shape was less important than the fashioning. Cushion shapes were introduced more and more when the old Table Cuts were refashioned. Many Table Cuts had blunt or missing corners which had to be disposed of without reducing the size of the gem. The easiest way to do this was to round the corners off. The second half of the eighteenth century was a great period for recutting unfashionable designs, and the cutters aimed to achieve a slightly larger display from octahedral rough than would have been possible if the gems had been given sharp corners. From this point on, jewelers used a regular mixture—which appears to have been entirely acceptable—of square and cushion-shaped Brilliants, combined with occasional diamonds of round, pear-shaped or other outlines. Normally the gems were placed according to their shapes in order to accentuate the design of the piece of jewelry, but sometimes—as, for instance, in opulent necklaces made soley of large diamonds—the stones were arranged in order of size irrespective of shape. As long as bruting remained a long and arduous process, nearly all dodecahedrons were fashioned into cushion shapes. We have evidence of this in the writings of several authos: Dutens (1773), for instance, says that ‘de nos jours on prefère la forme dodecaèdre, comme las plus propre à acquerir par le taillage la belle proportion voulue..’
Today, the circular Brilliant Cut is the standard, and other outlines are only applied when the rough particularly favors them. But during the last hundred years a number of large Cushion-shaped Brilliants have been fashioned, including the Tiffany, the Rojtman, the Jubilee, the Assher and the Red Cross.
The Deepdeene Diamond (104.52 ct) was widely discussed in the 1970s when questions were raised about is unusual golden-yellow color. With the Tiffany diamond, there has been exaggerated retention of weight simply in order to have a diamond of over 100 ct, a goal which could not have been achieved if correct proportions had been applied. The drawings show that the diamond had a very large table (c. 64 percent) and very wide crown angles (over 50°), resulting in a high crown. The girdle is too thick (6 percent) for a gem of this size. The pavilion, however, is well proportioned; it follows the rule of 45° angles and has a reflecting culet of about 7 percent. The broad pavilion facets indicate that it was cut in the second half of the nineteenth century.
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