Colored Gemstones Taking Center Stage

The timeless allure of diamonds has been unmatched for decades. The choice to mark a customer’s most intimate moments, the precious stone is symbolically tied to love throughout pop culture in songs, films and countless commercials — a diamond is forever, no? But as a new wave of diverse consumers enter the hard luxury market, the colored gemstone is rising up to meet a demand for unique pieces that not only mark any occasion but cement a new wave of colorful joy.

“Where diamonds were traditionally the norm, we’re seeing much more colored stones being used,” said John Ford, chief executive officer of the American Gem Trade Association, specifically “the use of colored stones in bridal jewelry.”

The AGTA CEO highlighted that it’s not a totally new phenomenon, pointing to the late Princess Diana’s sapphire engagement ring. “Color is life and people like vivid color. In the last five years, even if you follow the celebrities, you start seeing fancy colored diamonds, fancy colored sapphires and emeralds and more,” Ford said.

Alongside the precious classics — sapphire, emerald, ruby — semi-precious stones fill out consumers’ need for vividly colorful pieces. Ford said for more than six years gray spinel, fancy color sapphires, and emeralds “have been wildly popular, as have geometric gemstone cuts like hexagons, kites, shields, and other fancy silhouettes. Pink gemstones like tourmaline, Mahenge hot pink spinel, and sapphire are also having a good year thanks to the Pantone Color of 2023 Viva Magenta and Barbie.”

Gem award winner Lauren Harwell Godfrey started her brand in 2017 and the desire for color was already there, “so I embraced it immediately,” she said. “One of my most colorful pieces, my Rainbow Bead Foundation necklace, has been a top seller since it was introduced.”

While rings may be top of mind, Godfrey said her private clients and retailers “seek out color in every category.” Recently a private client of hers commissioned a very large custom horseshoe pendant with a 16.45-carat mint green peridot and baguettes in every color of the rainbow, turquoise inlay, and pearls. “There is an engraving that reads ‘F–k yeah.’ A very colorful piece indeed.”

Launched in 2023, designer Jade Ruzzo says her brand has “absolutely” seen a rise in demand for color. “It’s such a fun and meaningful way of telling your story or expressing yourself. I’ve noticed clients wanting to have more fun with their jewelry versus taking it too seriously. “

Today’s modern client wants to express themselves without all the codes of seriousness associated with jewelry in the past, and young brands like Ruzzo are meeting that request, like her Vic rings, which she reports customers are purchasing in multiplies “in different color cabochon gemstones to stack together” or young mothers who she sees having a real sentimentality to wearing their child’s birthstone colors.

While demand is growing, so are the prices and availability of natural gemstones, which are deeply rooted in geopolitical issues around the globe.

“Prices on fine unheated gemstones and top-quality cultured pearls will continue to rise due to residual mine and farm closures from the pandemic,” Ford said, adding that pearls of all types have been greatly affected. “South Seas farms shuttered or slowed down production during COVID[-19] due to inability to travel, causing prices of white South Seas pearl to rise 50 percent. Japanese akoya pearl farms have been hit with mortality of oysters and the reality that there are fewer farmers going into that business, all causing scarcity of product.”

“A decade ago, our customers purchased colored stone engagement rings as an inexpensive alternative to diamond engagement rings,” said Ankur Daga who, along with wife and business partner Aditi, cofounded Angara, a digitally native company that specializes in lab-grown colored gemstones. The CEO said he has seen a “very noticeable shift in the popularity” of colored gemstones in the U.S. market, with his company data showing colored gemstone engagement rings as a percentage of the overall engagement ring market increasing from 5 percent to 10 percent, with non-engagement jewelry seeing a similar shift, from 8 percent to 12 percent of the overall jewelry market.

“For a variety of reasons, both economic and cultural, brick-and-mortar stores typically only showed diamond jewelry options. Today, the online customer has access to more information and an endless variety of colored gemstone options. Consequently, over the past decade, we are seeing a more educated and empowered jewelry consumer,” he said.

To wit, the CEO said 25 percent of Angara’s current sales are to returning customers, “which is among the highest for e-commerce direct-to-consumer fine jewelers. This number has been rapidly rising and we are expecting the number to increase to one third of sales by Q1 2024,” he said.

“We believe the world is ready to ‘Celebrate With Color,’” he said, quoting Angara’s ad campaign.