Demand for diamonds slowly rising

Crowned the City of Gold, Dubai may add diamonds to its image in the coming five years as a hub for 20 per cent of the world's diamond business.

Emi de Marco, public relations of Monaco-based Scintilla, said jewellery sales in the Gulf have been steadily climbing over the past few years and have reached approximately $1.4 billion.

"This has made the Gulf the fourth largest market in the world in terms of polished diamond consumption. The UAE's market share amounts to $300 million – with the total Gulf market steadily growing at a healthy rate of three to five per cent per annum," she said.

She said diamonds are being increasingly used as a form of investment and a tool of saving.

"The new image of diamonds will further help business to grow. Dubai, with its traditional trade connections with markets on three continents, will become a hub of the diamond trade in the region," she predicted.

She said Scintilla is cooperating with local businesses to establish the image of the diamond as a reliable investment vehicle through different schemes, including an Ion branding beam and resale programmes.

De Marco said the Monaco-based premium brand of diamond jewellery has established new standards of quality and consumer confidence in diamond jewellery branding in the region.

She said Scintilla gets its diamonds from a member of the privileged club of Sight Holders - a house that gets its rough diamonds directly from The Diamond Trading Company of London, the premier source of diamonds worldwide.

"Each of these selected rough stones undergoes a chrysalis-like transformation into an eternally sparkling fancy shape," she said.

De Marco added that diamonds are then constructed to an ideal form and proportion at the hands of extraordinary craftsmen in Antwerp, Belgium - the diamond capital of the world. These carefully chosen diamonds are then specially branded for Scintilla using the latest Ion Beam technology.

Najmudin Sathak, director of Scintilla, said the company has adopted this advanced form of branding, which is the first of its kind in the world to be used on jewellery, in order to enhance trust in the product and "differentiate the jewellery being produced under Scintilla's programme from those produced by others".

He said this allows experts to authenticate the diamonds, under magnification, even while the stone is mounted - which is not usually the case with most other branding technology.

"The logo on the diamond adds brand-value to the stone, as well as the security features it serves," he said.

Nino Autore, director of the Design Section at Scintilla, said once the stones are cut, polished and branded, talented designers in Monaco to design beautiful pieces of jewellery fit for royalty.

"The designs are then transformed into pieces of art, in the traditional home of the finest jewellery production in the world, Italy. Here, the most gifted jewellery craftsmen, from the Piemont and Liguria provinces of northern Italy, draw upon experience handed down over centuries to bring these exquisite designs to life using the finest tools of the craft," he said.

According to Autore, every masterpiece takes on average a few months to create, with some of the larger sets taking over 12 months.

The hallmark of the Scintilla logo is also engraved on Scintilla jewellery, with the Scintilla logo featuring as an integral part of the design on selected pieces of the Scintilla range.

Every piece of jewellery is then sent to the International Gemmological Institute in Belgium for independent certification that is recognised worldwide - after which it is delivered to the approved retail outlets.