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Thanks to Jennifer Aniston one of my favorite diamond cutting styles is back in the spotlight. Everyone is saying her ring is an emerald cut but if you really look close you can clearly see it’s a Rose Cut! Thought to be one of the oldest styles of cutting a diamond, it’s believed to have been introduced around 1520 in Europe. This vintage cut  allows you to have a big look for a little price. Having a flat “back” all the size and depth of the diamond is in plain view. When you view one in a mounting, these classy but glassy diamonds look like pieces of crystal that have been cut with large, triangular facets in honeycomb-like patterns. Sadly the few remaining vintage rose cuts has dwindled and some say that it is silly to hope that this style of cutting will ever come off the endangered species list. Vintage rose cuts are such rarities; especially clean ones in good shape, designers now hoard the few they can find until they have enough stones for pieces featuring them. Hopefully with the influence of celebrity engagement rings, more jewelers and diamond cutters will bring this amazing style back in a big way!

So you've decided to launch a line of jewelry.  You're a designer.  You've branched out on your own or you've graduated from art school in jewelry making.  This is supposed to be your life - you imagine a sales team to sell your line to retailers,  getting a small booth at one of the shows, building a smoking-hot website and having your jewelry on the hollywood bods at the oscars.

Then you woke up.  It isn't easy, nothing worthwhile ever is.  Finding out that your product costs a lot more than the hottest trends in the industry.  Finding out that the website your brother's friend was going to build for you wasn't anything that you hoped it to be.  Finding out that your dream of becoming a designer jewelry brand - was so far away that you have no idea how to possibly reach it.

Another fashion artist told me one time  "never to create art for the purpose of selling it."  I laughed it off and never sold one of the pieces I was working on at the time.  If your goal is be rich or successful then being an artist probably wasn't the best career path.  We artists are artists for a different reason.  It's because we feel the need to express ourselves through a medium.  Not every artist expresses themselves in a way that someone will pay for, as obvious as that seems, you may live as a successful jewelry designer and never sell a piece your whole life.

With that being said - there are many masterpieces waiting to be made.  Masterpieces inspired by your surroundings and designed to make a woman radiate beauty.  My beginning challenge to you, is to be yourself.  Take in your inspiration, breathe out your expression and begin the journey of a fine jewelry designer.  Here at Designer Jewelry Brands, you'll see we've created a collection of artisans, biographies of distinction and stories that deserved to be told, I personally wrote half of them.  We've seen brands come and go… we have a couple ideas of what we've seen work, you'll find it all here.  Stay a while.

Ben: What's your new company?
Tom: We specialize in making stacks on stacks on stacks on stacks.

Ever since I saw this episode of Parks and Recreation (one of the funniest shows on television), I’ve said the phrase “stacks on stacks on stacks on stacks” more than any normal person should. Tom Haverford may have been talking about stacks of money, but I adapt this saying to mean anything I see in stackable form (food, books). Mostly I’m talking about jewelry. Specifically, bracelets. In this case, less is not more. Mixing bracelets is my go-to accessory usage. Stacks on stacks can be done poorly though- so let me give you a few guidelines for making your wrist worthy of a thousand re-pins on pinterest.

1. Either mix metal or stones-not both! If you are donning two-toned bracelets, stick to gold and silver pieces. If you are adding colored stones, beads, or enamel, make sure the metals of each bracelet are consistent. Otherwise you may end up looking a little more like you belong in kindergarten.

2. Don’t be afraid to mix expensive pieces with budget friendly. On any given day, I may have on a Rolex watch, H&M beaded bracelets, and a gold bangle that belonged to my mom back in the day of bell bottom jeans and the middle hair part.

3. And finally, diversity in sizes is not only your friend, but essential! You may have one of two chunky bracelets, but make sure to balance them out with even more thin bangles. A rule of them can be two thin pieces per one larger.

Why does all of this matter? Because your wrists be can weighed down visually leaving you looking like a one hundred ring hula hoop act from the circus - which does have a time and place….or actually, probably not. These three rules can set you free from the stigma of building an expensive collection from only one high-end brand, when in reality; the look you probably want could cost a fraction of the price. I won’t be mad if you start saying “stacks on stacks on stacks on stacks” more than is necessary. I get it. Happy stacking!