Nationwide secures Tolkowsky’s new diamond cut

Tolkowsky showed off the sparkling new cut at a launch in Antwerp last week, attended by members of the Nationwide Jewellers, Australia and New Zealand’s largest jewellery buying group.  

 

Tolkowsky has made his name cutting some the world’s largest faceted diamonds and his latest effort, the Astralis round brilliant diamond, boasts 89 facets and features an eight-pointed star cut into the stone. 

 

Add to that a crown break and a deeper pavilion and Tolkowsky believes the diamonds should shine up to 30 per cent brighter than standard brilliant diamonds.

 

Niven McArthur, Nationwide’s director for merchandising and marketing, told Jeweller he was thrilled with the exclusive deal.

 

“Gabi Tolkowsky is the most famous diamond cutter alive today,” McArthur said. 

 

He believes the range offers Nationwide stores a competitive advantage. , “This cut is exclusive to Nationwide and we’re quite exciting because there is such a storied history with this family and with Gabi. It’s pretty exciting having something exclusive in the diamond world.”

 

McArthur said Astralis would be sold as loose stones to Nationwide members, who can then work with customers to design and create unique jewellery pieces. 

 

He also said early signs of interest have been promising and that jewellers won’t have to wait for someone to make a trip to Belgium to obtain stock.

 

“From the reports, the uptake has been enormous already. Buying is strong, initial signs bode well,” he said. “We’ll be holding significant as well, and that will be available online for our members to work through with customers in-store.”