Radiant cut diamond ring

Radiant

The radiant diamond combines a stylish square or rectangular shape with the brilliance of the more traditional round cut. It's trimmed corners are the signature of this diamond, helping to make the radiant a versatile choice for all jewellery.

Equalling alluring with either baguette or round side-diamonds, the radiant shape typically has around 70 facets that allow light to disperse more efficiently through the stone for a beautiful effect.

True to its name, this shape is radiant in every sense of the word. Browse our stunning collection today.

What You Need to Know About Radiant Diamonds

The radiant diamond combines two cutting styles - the round cut and the emerald cut - to great effect with considerable fire and sparkle. Although it's not a traditional shape, the radiant is still one of the most beautiful and brilliant diamonds in existence.

The radiant is often labelled as a cut-cornered rectangular or square modified brilliant by the GIA when grading diamonds of this shape. In addition to rings, they're also well suited to earrings, pendants and other pieces of jewellery.

As for the symbolic meaning of the wearer's personality, radiant diamonds are trend setting, sentimental, highly adaptable and even-tempered.

History and Origins of Radiant Diamonds

After working for thirty years as a master diamond cutter, Henry Grossbard wanted to create a cut that would unlock the full potential of a diamond’s brilliance. He believed that the long, elegant shape of an emerald cut along with the many facets of the round brilliant could achieve this.

And so in 1977, the radiant cut was born, making it one of the most recent designs in the diamond industry. Since then it has made up for lost time with celebrities such as Drew Barrymore, Khloe Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and Megan Fox all wearing a radiant cut at one time or another.

However, it's important to note that Grossbard’s ‘Original Radiant Cut’ is considered the only authentic radiant cut. In order to get the original, you'll need a certificate with its authentication.

A Guide to the Cut, Colour and Clarity of Radiant Diamonds

Cut

Radiants can either be faceted in a traditional manner, thus giving off large sparkle, or in a more modern manner, presenting a 'crushed ice' appearance. With tradition, look for clean lines in the faceting on the bottom of the stone. For modern, look for extra facets on the pavilion.

Colour

Smaller Radiants hide colour better than larger ones, so depending on the size of diamond you purchase, you may not need to buy a colourless (D-F) diamond. Keep in mind that many buyers may actually prefer slightly warmer colours in a radiant.

Clarity

Due to their extra facets, radiant cut diamonds disperse more light throughout the diamond, giving inclusions more places to hide. For this reason, you can consider choosing a lower clarity grade.

Radiant Diamond Ring Settings

Radiants pair well with most rings but their rectangular shape means they don’t flow well with every design. Consider the following:

Solitaire

Radiant cut diamonds make for a great solitaire ring, as it will show their distinct traits and patterning.

Pavé

Light the fire of the radiant stone and magnify the cut's spark with a pavé ring featuring other precious gemstones.

Baguette side stone

This setting offers an Art Deco appeal to engagement rings, and when set alongside the radiant centre stone, will deliver vintage chic.

Bezel

A bezel setting is not recommended for the radiant shape as it will cause a significant loss to the amount of shine.

Tips for Buying Radiant Diamonds

Ratios for radiant cut diamonds depend on personal preference. However, the most common ratio for a traditional, rectangular shaped radiant cut diamond is 1.25.
Be sure to maximise measurements. For example, an ideally cut 1.0 carat radiant with the measurements 6.5 x 5.0 mm will be more expensive than a 0.98 carat radiant with measurements 6.6 x 5.1 mm that is just as ideally cut.
Radiant diamonds tend to be quite deep, which means they'll appear smaller at the same carat weight than other shapes such as round diamonds.

4C Of Diamond

Diamond Color

GIA developed the definitive diamond color scale or chart in the early 1950s, a time when there were a lot of different and subjective terms in the marketplace for describing a diamond’s color: white, blue white, AAAA, for example.

The GIA scale begins with the letter D, representing colorlessness, and continues with increasing presence of color to the letter Z, representing light yellow, light brown or light gray. The 23 color grades on the GIA Color Scale (or diamond color chart) are subdivided into five subcategories, which are: colorless (D-F); near colorless (G-J); faint (K-M); very light (N-R); and light (S-Z).

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Diamond Clarity

Diamond Clarity refers to the inclusions and blimishes.

To understand diamond clarity, we must first understand how diamonds are created. Natural diamonds are the result of carbon exposed to tremendous heat and pressure deep in the earth. This process can result in a variety of internal characteristics called ‘inclusions’ and external characteristics called ‘blemishes.’

Evaluating diamond clarity involves determining the number, size, relief, nature, and position of these characteristics, as well as how these affect the overall appearance of the stone. If you are trying to determine what is the best clarity for a diamond, remember that no diamond is perfectly pure. But the closer it comes to purity, the better its clarity

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Diamond Cut

Achieving the best cut for a diamond reflects in the stone’s final beauty and value.

Diamonds are renowned for their ability to transmit light and sparkle so intensely. We often think of a diamond’s cut as shape (round, heart, oval, marquise, pear), but what diamond cut actually does mean how well a diamond’s facets interact with light. Precise artistry and workmanship are required to fashion a stone so its proportions, symmetry and polish deliver the magnificent return of light only possible in a diamond.

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Carat Weight

Diamond carat weight measures Diamonds Apparent size.

To put it simply, diamond carat weight measures how much a diamond weighs.

A metric “carat” is defined as 200 milligrams. Each carat is subdivided into 100 ‘points.’ This allows very precise measurements to the hundredth decimal place. A jeweler may describe the weight of a diamond below one carat by its ‘points’ alone. For instance, the jeweler may refer to a diamond that weighs 0.25 carats as a ‘twenty-five pointer.’ Diamond weights greater than one carat are expressed in carats and decimals. A 1.08 carat stone would be described as ‘one point oh eight carats.’

All else being equal, diamond price increases with diamond carat weight because larger diamonds are rarer and more desirable. However, two diamonds of equal carat weight can have very different values (and prices) depending on three other factors of the diamond 4Cs : Color , Clarity , and Cut

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