In Armenia, there are turquoises, a bit amethysts, a lot of semi-precious obsidian, but no diamonds. Yet there is a great cutting school founded almost 45 years ago.
In the late 40-ies, the first diamond was found in Siberia, in Yakutia. At that time, it was decided to build the seven cutting factories in the USSR with the common name "Sapphire", one of which was constructed in Armenia, in 1971 not far from the town of Abovyan (later in Nor Hachn).
The founding father of diamond processing industry was the director of production unit “Crystal” Ashot Harutyunyan. In 1976, "Shoghakn" (former "Crystal") plant was founded with an annual processing capacity of 140,000 carats. This is not just a city-forming plant, around which the town Nor Hachn actually was built, but, most importantly, it laid the foundation of the magnificent cutting school in Armenia.
A well-known Israeli tycoon Lev Levayev owned the main diamond company of Armenia «Shoghakn» from 2001 to 2008, providing furtherly about 1,500 jobs. By the end of the 2000s there has started the crisis of the industrial branch, rough prices have soared sharply, partially due to the general crisis in the international market and, partially, due to the fall of the dollar.
The new owners of the enterprise decided to restore the work of the plant by opening a gemological laboratory equipped with modern laboratory instruments, a trading platform for the purchase and sale of rough and finished diamonds, linking sellers, cutters and buyers from all over the world with each other, while organizing infrastructure under one roof, all the necessary services for the convenience of deals, as well as, a new department of colored stones’ cutting. Work is underway on the organization of a training center for preparing diamond cutters and appraisers.
Our company is now cooperating with (SJSC) PAO "Alrosa", "Gokhran" of RF, and with other major suppliers of rough diamonds, as well as, with a number of diamond cutting companies in Armenia and abroad, in order to achieve common goals and to boost the development of the diamond industry in Armenia.
Product
Shoghakn company is the biggest diamond processing enterprise in postsoviet territory. Company is implementing faceting of all existing types of diamonds.
![]() ![]() Round
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Round Modern round shape of diamond was designed and developed by Belgian diamond cutter Marcel Tolkowsky in 1919. Diamonds of this shape had more brilliancy and fire than the diamonds shaped in those days.
Types of Round Shaped Diamond _ Tolkowsky Brilliant, Ideal Brilliant, Practical Fine, Parker Brilliant, Scandinavian Standard Brilliant, Eulitz Brilliant.
Tolkowsky Brilliant Cut -
Height of crown 16.2% of the girdle diameter,
Depth of pavilion 43.1% of the girdle diameter,
Diameter of table 53.0% of Girdle diameter,
Crown Angle_34.5º, Pavilion Angle_40.75º.
Approximately 75% of the diamonds sold today are round in shape.
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![]() ![]() Oval
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Oval Oval cut diamonds were first designed by Lazare Kaplan in the early 1960s and as the name suggests, these diamonds have got oval shape. Just like Marquise Diamond, oval shaped diamond also falls under the category of Modified Brilliant Cut with 58 facets. The number of main facets on its pavilion can vary from 4 to 6 or 8. Usually, the length to width ratio of oval shaped diamonds ranges from 1.33 to 1.66. Due to its elongated shape, oval cut diamond produces an illusion of a stone with bigger size.
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![]() ![]() Marquise
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Marquise King Louis XV of France presented a diamond to his mistress, the Marchioness Madame de Pompadour, to compliment the shape of her beautiful lips. That’s how this shape got its name. Marquise shaped stone falls under the category of Modified Brilliant Cut with 58 facets (33 facets on the crown and 25 on the pavilion). Variation in the pavilion is allowed with 4, 6 or 8 pavilion main facets, while the crown at times have "French Tip" with no bezel facets. Usually, the length to width ratio ranges between 1.75 and 2.25 in a marquise shaped stone. This shape has the largest crown as compared to any other diamond shapes. This creates an illusion of a stone with bigger size than what the actual size of the diamond is.
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![]() ![]() Pear
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Pear Pear diamond is also called "Teardrop" because of its shape. This shape is the mixture of Round and Marquise types with its one end pointed and the other cut round. Usually, a pear shaped stone has 58 facets and in order to have brilliancy, excellent or very good cut-symmetry of facets is essential. As the final shape of diamond depends on actual shape of the rough, length-to-width ratio of pear shape can vary. The most classic and traditional length-to-width ratio of pear-shaped diamond is between 1.45 and 1.75.
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![]() ![]() Emerald
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Emerald This shape was initially developed for emerald gemstone to enhance its beauty. Later it was used to facet rough diamonds and was much appreciated, leading to its popularity. Diamond of this shape has Step Cut facets arrangement. The shape has 50 to 58 facets and its crown and pavilion are superficial as compared to round shape of a diamond, reducing luster and brilliancy of a stone. However, due to a large and open table of this shape the stone is more elegant with enhanced clarity and color. There can be variation in emerald shape, from square to rectangle depending on the shape of rough. While buying a diamond of emerald shape, the length to width ratio of the stone should be checked. The classic emerald cut diamond has length to width ratio of 1.50.
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![]() ![]() Heart
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Heart Heart shaped diamond symbolizes love and can be one of the best gifts for lovers. Heart shaped stone falls under the category of Modified Brilliant Cut and typically has 59 facets. There can be variation in the number of pavilion facets with 6, 7 or 8 pavilion main facets. Heart diamond with good facet symmetry has high degree of brilliancy and fire which makes it very sparkling. The two halves of the heart should be identical, i.e. both the lobes (top arches) should be of same dimensions. The Cleft at the top should be sharp and distinct with a slightly round shape. Usually, the traditional length to width ratio of heart diamonds ranges from 0.90 to 1.10. However, it can vary. Hearts in the range of 0.85 to 1.00 can be termed as wide stones, while hearts with ratio more than 1.00 can be termed as narrow ones. Length to width ratio of finished stone largely depends on the dimensions of rough. Cutting the stone in this fashion reduces wastage.
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![]() ![]() Cushion
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Cushion Cushion cut diamond is an antique diamond shape and its faceting pattern can be placed between Old Mine Cut (popular in late 19th and early 20th century) and modern oval diamond.
Cushion cut has been into existence for more than one and half centuries now. From 1830 to 1919 (year of invention of modern round brilliant diamond design), cushion was the only shape in which diamonds were cut to default.
The traditional cushion diamonds had steep crown, large facets, small table, generally a big culet and very thin girdle .
Due to these features, cushion diamonds were not known for high brilliance and fire. Also, very thin girdle led to diamond getting damaged while setting in jewelry.
With the success of round brilliant, Tolkowsky incorporated angles of round brilliant into cushion to enhance the brilliance and durability of latter.
Cushion diamond has 58 brilliant (facets pattern that radiates from center to edge of diamond) style facets with facets pattern varying from traditional to modified version.
The brilliance (reflective property that signifies mirror-like shine) of cushion cut is less than round brilliant diamonds but its fire (refractive property that signifies splitting of white light into seven spectral colors) is comparatively more which is the unique feature of this shape.
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![]() ![]() Princess
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Princess Princess Shaped Diamond is relatively new and was developed in 1980 by Betzalel Amber and Israel Itzkowitz. Princess shape is very versatile and has flexibility of blending in almost any style of ring. This makes it second most popular diamond shape after round shaped diamond.
The princess shape is categorized under Mixed cut because it adopts the Brilliant facets arrangement in crown and Step facets arrangement in pavillion.
Number of facets depends on the facets arrangements of the pavilion. It has either 50 facets (21 crown, 4 girdle and 25 pavilion facets) or 58 facets (21 crown, 4 girdle, and 33 pavilion facets). If the facets arrangement is symmetrical, it can have very good fire and brilliance leading to beautiful sparkle.
Princess is traditionally a square shape with four sides being of equal length. But, often princess shape is given rectangular shape to reduce the wastage. Due to this, as the princess shape moves towards the rectangle, its price decreases.
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Technology
Colorless diamonds are the most valuable gemstones which becomes faceted gems
of regular shape and proportions after their cutting.
The most traditional shape is round brilliant which has 57 facets.
There are four factors known as the 4C to describe and classify diamonds:
Colour, Clarity, Cut, Carat weight.
Production processes of diamond cutting
Natural rough diamonds pass through the following production steps:
Sorting - is carried out by color, natural defects, weight, shape and by the relief of the facet
Marking - is carried out with the help of special marking pencil. Accurate marking of the rough has a great importance for the yield depends on its accuracy.
Sawing - mechanical sawing is undertaken at this stage and the tools used in the workshop consist of diamond-bladed edges or discs that are lined in diamond dust. Along with the development of laser industry, the sawing process can also be undertaken with contactless cutting tools like lasers which enable to cut several stones simultaneously with sawing/cutting a narrow sector. Sometimes cleavage of rough can be more effective than its cutting.
Blocking main facets or “rough bruting”- it's the removal of the excess mass of the crystal.
Bruting - is performed to make the separated rough stones in their basic forms. This process is also known as girdling.
Cutting/faceting - it’s the process of creating facets on the stone at a certain angle, due to which the diamond refracts light rays.
There are the following shapes of diamond cut: Pear-shaped, Emerald, Oval, Marquise, Baguette, Heart, Square, Princess, Trillion Cut, Radiant Cut and Round.
Polishing - diamond surface becomes perfectly smooth using diamond polishing tools.
Washing - cleaning solution used for diamonds washing consists of concentrated sulfuric acid with the addition of a certain amount of potassium nitrate, distilled water and raw spirit.
Finished stones are inspected in accordance with the technical requirements using different laboratory instruments.
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