Round. Oval. Emerald. Princess. Pear. Most people's diamond vocabulary stops at the same ten shapes - and that's not a coincidence. Those are the shapes most jewellers can actually get, because most jewellers don't cut diamonds. They buy what's already cut and sell it to you.
Stara is different, and not because we're trying to be. It's because of where we come from. Our family has been cutting and polishing diamonds in Surat, India - the city that cuts roughly nine out of every ten diamonds on the planet - for over 40 years. When you have that kind of access to the cutting floor itself, the ten standard shapes stop being a limit. They become a starting point.
So let's talk about everything that exists beyond them - because once you see these shapes, the standard ten start to feel a little ordinary.
Wait - Cut or Shape? Quick Refresher
In our last post we talked about cut quality - how precisely a diamond's facets are angled to maximise sparkle. Today we're talking about something different: cut shape - the actual outline and facet pattern of the stone. Round, oval, and kite are all shapes. Excellent, Very Good, and Good are all qualities. You can have a beautifully cut kite, just like you can have a poorly cut round. Today, we're shape shopping.
The Vintage Soul: Rose Cut
Dating back to the 16th century, the rose cut has a flat bottom and a domed crown of triangular facets that catch light in a soft, romantic glow rather than the sharp fire of a modern brilliant. It looks like candlelight, not a spotlight - which is exactly why it's having such a moment in vintage and Art Deco-inspired rings right now.
The Edgy Geometrics: Hexagon & Octagon
Six sides and a serious modern edge - the hexagon cut gives a ring an architectural, almost futuristic feel, especially when finished with step-cut faceting for that hall-of-mirrors effect. Its rarer cousin, the octagon, adds two more sides and a touch more brilliance. Both are nearly impossible to find pre-cut, because so few cutters take them on.
The Dramatic Pair: Kite & Lozenge
Shaped exactly like its name suggests, the kite cut has an off-centre horizon line, making one end longer than the other - dramatic, elongated, and unmistakably modern. Its close relative, the lozenge cut, centres that horizon line so both points are even, like a diamond plucked straight off a deck of playing cards. Both are showstoppers as centre stones in an east-west setting.
The Sharp Statement: Trillion & Shield
The trillion cut (sometimes called trilliant) is a bold, triangular shape with serious fire - though its sharp points mean it should always be protected with a bezel or V-prong setting. Take a kite and trim off one tip, and you get the shield cut - a five-sided shape inspired by heraldic armour that makes an unexpectedly powerful centre stone.
The Side-Stone Specialists: Trapezoid, Bullet & Half Moon
Not every remarkable shape needs to be the centre of attention. The trapezoid - four sides, parallel top and bottom, tapered edges - creates a graceful bridge between a centre stone and the band. The bullet cut, part of the step-cut family, tapers to a sharp point reminiscent of Art Deco design. And the half moon curves gently around a centre stone, framing it like a crescent.
The Showpiece: Briolette
Image: The Briolette of India – The Oldest Diamond in Recorded History
Most cuts are flat-backed. The briolette is fully three-dimensional - a faceted teardrop with no flat side at all, sparkling from every single angle. Historically used in royal jewels, it remains one of the most labour-intensive cuts to execute well.
"A standard shape is a beautiful choice. An unusual one is a declaration - this ring could only belong to you."
Why Most Jewellers Stop at Ten
Here's the honest truth: cutting these shapes well is genuinely difficult. Step cuts hide inclusions less forgivingly than brilliant cuts, sharp points are vulnerable to chipping if a cutter misjudges the angle, and shapes like the hexagon or kite have far less margin for error in proportion. Most jewellers don't cut diamonds at all - they buy finished stones from a handful of standard moulds, because that's what their suppliers offer.
We don't have that limitation, because cutting is in our blood, not just our supply chain. Our family's cutting house in Surat works in over 100 different cuts and shapes - in both lab-grown and natural diamonds, and in coloured gemstones too. If you can describe the shape you're imagining, there's a very good chance we can cut it.
It's Not Just for Diamonds
Every shape above can be brought to life in a coloured gemstone too - a kite-cut sapphire, a hexagon emerald, a trillion ruby. Custom cutting opens the door to genuinely one-of-one pieces, whether your stone is colourless or carries colour of its own.
How the Custom Cutting Process Works at Stara
It starts the same way every Stara piece does - with a free, pressure-free consultation. You describe the shape, the feeling, the vision. We'll show you reference images, talk through what's realistic for your stone size and budget, and design the setting around it in a complimentary 3D rendering.
Once you approve the design - and only once you approve it - the cutting begins in Surat, under the same hands and expertise that have shaped diamonds for over four decades. No deposit is required until you've seen and loved exactly what you're getting.
Our Honest Advice
If you want timeless: the standard ten will never go out of style, and there's real comfort in that.
If you want unmistakable: a kite, a hexagon, a rose cut, or a shape we cut just for you turns a beautiful ring into a piece of art that exists nowhere else on earth.
Either way, you're not limited by what's sitting in a display case. You're limited only by what you can imagine - and we'd love to help you imagine big & boldly.
Your story, set in stone.
Begin the conversation at The Stara Way
0 comments