Interview with James Lehman

When James Lehman established Lost River Diamonds, his goal was to create a niche for himself in the industry. After careful consideration of the overall diamond market, that niche came in the form of colours – and lots of them.

“It just seemed to evolve that people were always looking for these [coloured diamonds]. I loved the fact that I was able to gain knowledge about an area of the industry that was quite unique,” he says. 

Lehman was also at an advantage given the business was situated in Western Australia where the Argyle mine is located and that he was regularly travelling to India where they were selling coloured diamonds cheaply.

In the “early days” Lehman would primarily source cognac diamonds from the Argyle mine, but that quickly expanded to a comprehensive range of pink, blue, green, orange and everything in between from both Argyle and the Ellendale diamond field, also located in Western Australia.

With 90 per cent of business stemming from coloured stones – the other 10 per cent coming from white diamonds – Lost River Diamonds claims to be the largest coloured diamond dealers in Australia. 

Lehman also has a wealth of knowledge gained from a combination of previous business experiences, including operating an exploration and mining company in South Africa. The supplier is often asked to make presentations regarding various facets of the diamond industry.

While it’s difficult for Lehman to pinpoint just one piece of advice for retailers working with coloured stones, he finally settles on this: “When a jeweller is asked to make a piece of coloured diamond jewellery, always find the coloured stones first and then make the jewellery item to fit. You will not be able to do it in the reverse order because it’s impossible to find the exact same diamond twice.”

Interesting fact …
About 20 per cent of world pink diamond sales, by value, comes from Australia. That’s quite astounding considering we are a tiny fraction of the global population.