Insights
Notes from the cutting floor.
Written for people who buy small goods professionally: how sieving works, what goes wrong in a parcel, and how to brief a job so it arrives right the first time. No press releases.
Sieve sizes explained: how melee diamonds are actually measured
Ask for melee by carat weight and you will get a parcel that does not fit your setting. Ask by sieve and you will get one that does. Here is why the trade measures small goods the way it does.
ReadCarat weight is the wrong unit for small diamonds. How sieve plates work, what +6 −8 means, and how sieve ranges map to millimetres when buying melee.
What −2 means in diamond sizing, and why it is the hardest cut to get right
Read−2 diamonds are under a millimetre across and still carry all fifty-seven facets. Why that size is technically hard and why most houses subcontract it.
Reading a melee parcel: what to check in the first ten minutes
ReadA ten-minute inspection routine for melee on arrival: weight and count, sieve check, colour consistency, cut uniformity and girdle condition.
Natural vs lab-grown melee: keeping a supply chain provably natural
ReadUndisclosed lab-grown stones are hardest to detect in melee, where nobody certifies single pieces. How mixing happens, how screening works, what to require.
Calibrated diamond layouts: how to brief a supplier from a CAD file
ReadHow to get matched, seat-by-seat diamond layouts from a CAD file: what to send, which tolerances to state, and the five briefing mistakes that cost time.
A question these do not answer?
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