Launched at the Hong Kong fair on Friday, the Dancing Stone is the brainchild of Japanese jewellery designer, Hidetaka Dobashi. The centre diamond is suspended from two fine points and is designed so that the stone does not touch the wearer’s body but continually moves in a vibrating fashion, creating a continual sparkle from the swinging momentum.
Dobashi said he first developed the idea in September 2010 but it took until November 2011 to complete the first prototype that truly achieved the desired sparkle effect.
“I was looking for something innovative and coming up with the idea was very easy but making it was very hard work,” Dobashi said. “There were so many problems in creating the [Twinkle] setting because this is a new product but I solved them all one by one, and now I am really satisfied.”
“When I saw the first successful prototype it was very good and very beautiful. The way the diamond moves is totally different to other diamond jewellery because other diamonds usually hang from one point and when people wear the jewellery the diamond usually touches the skin,” Dobashi explained. “So I thought if I hang the diamond on two sides I could make the movement [of the stone] consistent and make it twinkle.”
The patented design means that the stone continually moves in a vibration–like movement, or as Dobashi describes it, “the stone dances”.
His Japanese based company, Crossfor Co. officially launched the Dancing Stone range at the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, which closes today.
With more than 3,500 exhibitors spread across two venues, it takes a lot to grab the attention of jewellery buyers, but if the crowds around the stand were any indication, the Dancing Stone was a hit.
Dobashi said he exhibited the concept as a soft launch with only 10 pieces at the June Hong Kong Fair, but it was officially launched last week with more than 150 designs of pendants and earrings.
“The fair has been crazy good,” Dobashi said, explaining that he has received enormous interest from jewellery buyers as well as diamond sightholders and other manufacturers wanting to license the technology.
“We can work in three ways. We currently manufacture our own Dancing Stone designs in Vietnam and China and we have been asked by many Indian companies to license the patent, or we can contract manufacture when people supply us with the loose stones,” he said.
Dobashi has applied for international patents in all major territories including China, US, India and Europe.
Dobashi established Crossfor Co. in 1980 after he studied gemmology specialising in rubies and sapphires and he eventually branched out into diamond jewellery. In 1999 Dobashi invented and patented the Crossfor Cut, a 46 facet brilliant cut diamond that he says, “achieves a unique cross-shaped sparkle.”
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