From Rough to Brilliant: Inside Our Gemstone Cutting Workshops
Most fine-jewellery brands buy their stones already cut. We don't — and that single difference shapes everything we make.
A family that started with the rough
Our story begins not in a showroom but at a cutting bench in Bangkok. In 1991, our founder May's parents established a gemstone business there, focused on precision-cut rubies and sapphires. May grew up inside it — sorting and grading stones by colour, clarity, and size long before she designed a single ring. She went on to study in the UK and Switzerland and to strengthen her training at the Gübelin Academy, but the foundation was laid early: in the hand, under the lamp, learning to read a stone from the rough.
Two workshops, every stone cut in-house
Today Gems Excellence operates two in-house cutting factories, where our teams have refined complex cuts over many years. Controlling a stone from rough crystal to finished gem is rare in our trade — most jewellers never touch it — and it is the heart of how we work.
Our signature cuts
Two cuts are central to our identity. The Excellent Cut is known for its heart-and-arrow style reflection — a pattern of optical precision that returns light evenly and makes a stone come alive. The Radiant Cut, with its bright, lively faceting, is the other. Stones cut to these standards are then paired with high-quality diamonds and crafted gold settings to create pieces that feel luminous and balanced.
Why cutting our own stones matters
When you control a stone from rough to finished, three things change:
- Colour is protected. A skilled cutter orients each stone to bring out its best colour. Buy a finished stone and that decision was already made by someone else — often optimising for weight rather than beauty.
- Ethics are traceable. Because our rough passes through our own hands, we know where it comes from and how it is handled. That is how we can promise ethically sourced, conflict-free stones — not as a slogan, but as a supply chain.
- Value is fairer. Cutting in-house removes layers of middlemen, so more of what you pay goes into the stone itself.
From rough to brilliant
Every stone travels the same careful path before it reaches a setting:
- Sorting and selection — rough crystals are assessed for colour, clarity, and potential.
- Planning — the cutter studies each stone to decide the orientation and shape that will reveal the most colour and life, often sacrificing weight for beauty.
- Cutting and faceting — the stone is shaped and its facets cut to precise angles so light returns evenly to the eye.
- Polishing — each facet is polished to a mirror finish.
- Final inspection — only stones that meet our standard go forward to be set, and where applicable they are independently certified.
What this means for you
The sapphire, emerald, or ruby in your Gems Excellence piece didn't arrive in a parcel of anonymous finished stones. It was chosen, oriented, and cut with the same eye that has run in this family since 1991. That's the quiet difference you can't photograph — but you can feel it when you wear it.
Explore our coloured gemstone jewellery or commission a bespoke piece.