Lorie’s father, Marcel, founded IGI in 1975. Roland became CEO of the grading lab following his father’s passing in 2006; all told, he’s worked there for 48 years.

Tehmasp Printer, who most recently served as managing director of IGI India, will take Lorie’s place as head of IGI. Printer has worked for the lab for 24 years.

Deborah Pienica will continue as chief operating officer, and Roland’s son Arnaud serves as its chief marketing officer.

Blackstone Group recently bought IGI for $569.65 million. Fosun Group and Lorie’s family owned the lab from 2018 until this year.

(Photos courtesy of IGI)

In her new role, Campagna will lead and manage the grading lab’s operations and strategic growth.

Campagna has 25 years’ experience in the luxury goods and jewelry industry. She was most recently director of operations at Sarine Technologies.

Prior to that, Campagna spent over seven years as vice president and global production manager at Sotheby’s Diamonds. She has also worked as a senior gemologist at Cora International and a gemology instructor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She holds a Graduate Gemologist degree from GIA.

IGI was purchased by a division of Blackstone Group for $569.5 million in May.

(Photo courtesy of IGI)

Around 2004, shortly after the first dot-com bubble burst, Sodhani decided to go backpacking in India. The climate for tech startups was “horrible,” he tells JCK, and it seemed like a good time to reconnect with his roots. He was due to fly home via Mumbai when his father told him that a job at a local diamond company was available to him, if he wanted it.

“I’m like, ‘Nice try, dad,’” Sodhani says. “But my sister said, ‘Why don’t you take the job and then you can stay in Bombay?’ I started the next morning at Rosy Blue.”

Working at one of the world’s largest diamond manufacturers was a promising start to a career that soon segued into the fine jewelry business. In 2006, Sodhani founded ILA, a diamond jewelry brand currently sold at Saks Fifth Avenue, Moda Operandi, Eliza Page, and scores of additional jewelry stores around the United States as well as internationally.

In January 2021, at the height of the pandemic, Sodhani brought his various interests full circle with the debut of Unbridaled AI, a company offering diamond curation software, Unbridaled Diamonds, powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Designed to simplify and streamline the process of selecting the best diamonds at the best price in real time, the technology is focused on shortening the selection process and helping retailers close the sale. Thanks to its numerous sightholder and diamond manufacturing partners, the company ships diamonds directly from India and overseas to the United States.

“As an engineer, someone who came from a deep technical background, I realized the state of software in our industry was really ancient,” Sodhani tells JCK. “It was hard to sell a diamond to a customer for an engagement ring, and it was also difficult to explain the intricacies of a diamond so that they felt educated and comfortable enough to buy. I thought there had to be a better way.”

Sodhani reasoned that the amount of data available on certified diamonds would be enough to give a computer capable of machine learning, a subset of AI that involves training machines to learn from data, the ability to select the best diamonds, thereby freeing up the time a retailer had to spend sourcing them.

“There’s a lot of data on these certified diamonds from the labs on things like angles and inclusions, and sightholders have even more info: ‘Is the diamond eye clean? What is the shape?’” Sodhani says. “With all this data, we hypothesized that artificial intelligence should be able to look through all this data and find the best diamond. It’s what a gemologist would do if you told him what you wanted. He’d look at what’s available and find the best one. So we started writing software and using AI to see if it could provide good results, and it turns out, it provides amazing results. We patented it.”

The curation technology is designed to work online as well as in a physical environment “because every store will have different requirements,” Sodhani says. “Some people, for example, will only want to show H color and above. The system is flexible and you can train it and then it figures out the best diamonds.”

“Unbridaled Diamonds takes an appointment that typically took two to three weeks down to 10 to 15 minutes,” Sodhani wrote in a follow-up email.

But that was just the beginning. Sodhani realized that as his business grew, it required more nuanced and robust management software. “I pretty much bought every piece of software out there to run a diamond jewelry company and they were all horrible,” he says, referring to software that could be used to manage inventory, manufacturing, shipping, invoicing, etc. Once again, Sodhani began writing his own software.

“We built it to manage our own operations but realized we were onto something big,” Sodhani says. “Most small- to medium-size enterprises run their businesses off Excel or some kind of spreadsheet; they don’t have software to run their business. That’s the space we’re filling.”

The company introduced Unbridaled OS at the recent JCK Las Vegas show. “It’s jewelry management software specifically designed for our industry, and it syncs with modern software that most people would use, mainly Shopify and Quickbooks,” Sodhani says.

“Most times, if you have Excel or Quickbooks, you don’t have a good sense of the pulse of your business,” he adds. “It’s a challenge to understand what’s going on. Because our strength is in AI or machine learning, we’re building an AI copilot inside Unbridaled OS that’s constantly analyzing your data. Everything is integrated and stored in our system. So we know exactly what’s happening.”

The software can track inventory across multiple locations, manage deadlines, and leverage analytics to deliver insights into sales performance, among other key features.

Sodhani says his goal is to help owners run their businesses better. “An owner has to wear so many hats: designing, sales, manufacturing, sourcing,” he says. “How do you manage all those and grow a company? You need help and that is where these AI assistants come in.”

The new deal calls for state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) to sell more diamonds mined by Debswana, the jointly-owned mining company. That number will eventually hit 50% of production within 10 years. (It currently sells 25%.)

With that will come “increased responsibilities for ODC, in the space of beneficiation and marketing support for the overall industry,” Kuijlaars says.

While she couldn’t share the specific amount ODC will contribute to marketing, it will be released when the full contract is sent for approval to the shareholders of De Beers parent company Anglo American, she says. Just don’t expect that to happen soon.

“We have to translate that agreement in principle into long-form documents,” says Kuijlaars. “Some of these agreements are very old, and very verbose. We have to translate those for the next 10 to 25 years. That will take a bit of time and a lot of involvement with the lawyers. We expect it take months, not weeks.”

Asked about Lightbox’s decision to sell engagement rings, Kuijlaars stresses it’s just a test for De Beers’ lab-grown diamond brand.

“It’s a very limited pilot in two or three cities in the U.S., with a limited number of units. It is to really understand consumer behavior,” she says. “Some retail units out there are selling lab-grown at an unsustainable margin. We know that lab-grown [margins and prices] at the wholesale level are coming down and will continue to come down, but they haven’t yet at retail. So this is a pilot to understand consumer behavior, but it’s limited. And we look forward to assessing the result of that pilot.”

If consumers respond favorably, would Lightbox sell engagement rings in response to consumer demand, as CEO Antoine Borde indicated?

“When we understand the results of that pilot, Antoine and the board of De Beers will reach the right decision for De Beers,” Kuijlaars says.

According to Anglo American’s financial results released today, De Beers’ total revenue in the first half of the year decreased to $2.8 billion, from $3.6 billion during the same period last year. Rough diamond demand fell in the first six months of 2023 to $2.5 billion, from $3.3 billion in 2022. By volume, the company sold 15.3 million carats in the first half, about equal to the same period last year, as this year’s mix contained a higher proportion of low-value stones.

That’s because “sightholders are being relatively conservative, and in doing so, they’ve sought out more of the lower-value goods,” Kuijlaars says.

She says De Beers’ sales have been hurt by a “tough” macroeconomic climate, in both the United States and China. “We are confident, but it’s going to be a bit of a bumpy road in the coming months.”

She maintains that natural diamond demand remains strong, noting it’s grown by a “healthy” average of 6% in the U.S. over the past 10 years.

“If you think about middle-class growth in China, that’s going to grow by an extra 100 million–plus family units over the next 10 years. India is also growing. So the long-term dynamics remain strong for natural diamond demand.… We’re very much focused on how we ride out this difficult period to become more resilient in the future.”

(Photo courtesy of De Beers)

Krischer, head of Esskay Gems, was first voted in as head of the New York City–based group in 2020.

Robert Moskovitz was reelected vice president, the position that oversees the club’s arbitration function, and Sushil Goya won another term as secretary. Stuart Samuels was elected treasurer, taking over from Benny Simkhai.

The Diamond Dealers Club’s new board of directors consists of Haim Aharonoff, Ishay Ben-David, Solomon Cohen, Yekutiel Davidov, Eli Edalati, Abraham Fastag, Eli Isser Fruchter, Sanjeev Jain, Ravi Jargad, Israel Kornbluh, Sudhen Mehta, and Michael Steinmetz.

(Photo courtesy of the Diamond Dealers Club)

“Consumers want this,” said panelist Sara Yood, deputy general counsel for the Jewelers Vigilance Committee. “You may not know that consumers want this, and the data may not show that consumers want it. But it’s pretty clear that consumers are asking for this information at a higher level than they were previously.

“And more important,” she said, “governments want this information too.”

Rebecca Nolan, a State Department foreign affairs officer who represents the U.S. at the Kimberley Process, noted that the G7 has twice said that it wants to ban the import of Russian polished diamonds, but is still working out the details on how to do so.

“Our partners are continuing to develop a framework,” she said. “The conversations we have had with the industry are helpful in getting a sense of how these supply chains work.”

Yood said she believed that any Russian diamond ban will have “a size floor which will be phased in over time.” She said, “The Belgian government, which has been against [sanctions on Russian diamonds] for so long, is realizing they have an opportunity to leverage Antwerp as a through destination for diamonds in a way they haven’t been able to in some time.”

While there has been talk of a method that could scientifically determine the origin of diamonds, David Block, CEO of Sarine diamond technology company, was skeptical. “Diamonds are not gemstones,” he said. “With gemstones, trace elements are useful [in determining origin]; with diamonds, the quantity of trace elements is so much less. As a result, it’s probably not possible—and if it was, it would be costly and time-consuming.”

But he added that programs to follow diamonds through the pipeline are “possible and  here today and won’t involve a huge burden on the industry”—though, for now, they will only work on newly mined goods.

Another panelist, designer Satta Maturi, said, “The diamond industry as a whole has done an incredible job creating and investing in traceability technology, especially if you compare us to other sectors, like colored stones, and probably metals, where I, as a maker, would like to see more done.”

How can jewelers determine the origin of their materials? Yood said they should use their current anti-money-laundering policy as a building block: “The know-your-customer form has a certain set of elements that are required on it. You can build on to that. You can make that a more robust vendor packet and ask further questions.

“If your vendors don’t want to answer all those questions,” she continued, “you can make a determination: Do I want to work for this business or not? I understand from a small retail perspective you feel that you have no power. But there are suppliers out there who want to give you this information. They are proud of the work they are doing for to identify their supply chains and do due diligence.”

She noted that most due diligence procedures are based on guidance from the OECD (the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), and advised jewelers to check out its website, duediligenceguidance.org, for helpful tips.

“If you have not been there, I strongly recommend it. It has animation and directions, and it’s very usable.”

Alison Charalambous, vice president, responsible sourcing and sustainability, for Brilliant Earth, said her company carefully spells out its expectations for vendors. “You say what expectations are, what the origins you approve of, and the level of traceability you want from that vendor,” she said. “And then you test them to see if they are able to show you proof of their sourcing practices, and how they themselves trace origin.

“In that process, you can tell how sophisticated they are [about tracing their materials], if it’s something they do on a day-to-day basis, if it’s something they consider or don’t consider, if it’s something they do when you’re not watching. Oftentimes you can quite quickly eliminate them [based on that].”

All the panelists agreed that not everyone’s supply chain will become perfect overnight, but it’s important to show “continuous improvement.”

“Sometimes it’s enough to get one thing right,” said Matturi, who is a board member of the Responsible Jewellery Council. “And that can have a great impact.”

The panel, held at Bohemian National Hall in New York City, was moderated by the author of this article.

Top: Initiatives in Art and Culture’s Gold & Diamond Conference (photo by and courtesy of Cristina Villegas)

The Fairfield, Ohio–based jewelry manufacturer had planned to merge with Tastemaker Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). But the market for SPACs has cooled considerably, which hurt Quality Gold’s chances of a successful IPO, says Quality Gold CEO Michael Langhammer (pictured).

“We went through the lengthy process of going public because we believed that the equity markets would be an attractive source for financing continued acquisition of complementary businesses,” he tells JCK via email. “Unfortunately, the post-COVID market for new offerings via IPO or SPAC merger remained very depressed.”

The now-canceled IPO aimed to raise $279 million, which implied an enterprise value for Quality Gold of $989 million.

Andy Pforzheimer, Tastemaker’s co-CEO, said in a statement: “We are disappointed that we were not able to complete the transaction with Quality Gold. We were excited about the potential for the company.”

In January, Quality Gold bought Herco, a San Francisco–based jewelry manufacturer. It paid $18.2 million for the company, according to an April 23 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The April filing said that Quality Gold has been affected by the current issues with lab-grown diamonds, which comprise 16% of its business, and that it took a $6 million write-down on its lab-grown inventories as of Dec. 31, 2022.

In the SEC form, Quality also noted that it was “currently in a dispute with a vendor who had been our primary supplier of rough lab-grown diamonds.” The company had a long-term agreement with this supplier, set to expire in 2025, but Quality Gold alleged in the SEC document that the “supplier has breached the ‘most favored nation’ clause of our contract by selling products to other customers on pricing terms that are substantially more favorable than the pricing we have been paying without offering preferred pricing to us.” This has squeezed its margins further, it said.

According to the filing, Quality sees “a market opportunity for large-carat lab-grown diamonds” and believes “there is an opportunity to replace natural small diamonds with small lab-grown diamonds.”

(Photo courtesy of Quality Gold)

“Everyone agreed that lab-grown cannot live by being the little brother of natural diamonds,” Roland Lorie, CEO of the International Gemological Institute, a panelist at the conference, tells JCK. “Lab-grown needs to find its own [place].”

In the opening session, Toby Cruse, vice president of global sales for Diamond Foundry, noted that lab-grown prices are now one-fifth of what they were a few years ago. That 80% drop could mean “negative margins for subscale producers,” he said.

Given all that, Amish Shah, CEO of ALTR Created Diamonds, says the category has to “create value.” He predicts growers will try to shorten the pipeline. “Every producer is currently looking to align with an American wholesaler/distributor/marketer who understands and has deep relationships with retailers,” he tells JCK.

Lab-grown appears poised to enter the fashion jewelry market, where adoption will be quicker than it was for engagement rings, Shah says: “What took seven years in engagement will take two years in fashion.”

In an online interview with Lab-Grown Diamonds Magazine, Arnav Mehta, managing director of Blue Star Diamonds, said his main takeaway from the conference was that the industry cannot approach lab-grown diamonds solely as an alternative to natural gems.

“Lab-grown diamond is going to be more of an ingredient, rather than the product,” he said. “Natural diamond has been branded in the eyes of the consumer. Lab-grown diamond is not going to be a branded commodity.…

“Design, creativity, branding—all these stories are going to be much more important going forward for the lab-grown industry,” Mehta said in the interview. “For the last five or seven years, we have been trying to replicate the same natural diamond model into lab-growns. The retailers have been trying to do the same thing—just replace, or add on to the product mix. [Lab-grown is] actually a different product. The storytelling behind it will be very different.”

A panel at the symposium on reputation and sustainability drove home the point that the lab-grown sector should broaden its focus, Nirav Jogani, director and vice chairman of RSM Astute and Lemon Consultech Groups, told Lab-Grown Diamonds Magazine.

“Most of the people associate the word sustainability with climate action—climate neutrality, carbon neutrality,” he said. “The word sustainability comes from the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. There are 17 such goals, and climate action is one of them, and it is low in the pecking order. There are many more important things like poverty, hunger, clean water.…

“People [in the lab-grown industry] are trying to communicate things that they are not doing on climate action…. That is all greenwashing,” said Jogani, who urged the industry to publicize other good works that it does.

Conference participants acknowledged the need to end the hostilities that have characterized the relationship between natural and lab-grown diamonds, according to Shah. “Throwing dirt at each other isn’t going to work,” he says. “The earth-mined category and lab-grown diamond category both have a niche.”

In a well-received session, Dr. M.S. Ramachandra Rao, senior professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madrasgave, discussed tech applications for lab-grown diamonds, including possible uses in the semiconductor industry and quantum computing. Some attendees found his talk particularly eye-opening.

“We’re in a technology industry,” Shah says. “We’re not in the diamond industry. We’re part of a technology industry that uses diamonds as a component. Gems are great, but with technology, producers have a real opportunity.”

Unusual for a jewelry event but in line with a tech conference, the symposium had a casual dress code. (The fact that the temperature in Dubai topped 120 degrees during the conference likely helped.) The conference was organized by the Dubai Multi-Commodities Center, and attracted some 230 people.

Top: Martin Leake, special adviser for precious stones to the Dubai Multi-Commodities Center, welcomes attendees. (Photo courtesy of the Dubai Multi-Commodities Center)

The company announced the octagonal diamonds last week as an “industry first,” says sales manager and gemologist Lorraine Brantner. James Allen  is the only retailer to sell this shape, she says.

“These diamonds have 65 facets and are cut with expert techniques to optimize light, brilliance, and sparkle,” Brantner says. “They reflect more light than a traditional round diamond, which only has 58 facets.”

The octagon diamonds are distinctive in appearance and adaptability, Brantner says, explaining that they fit more securely in prong settings than fancy shapes or round diamonds. “Though they sparkle like traditional round brilliants, they have a fun and funky outline shape that catches your eye up close,” she says. “They can be safely set into styles that hold round, princess, or cushion, providing a vast inventory of setting design options.”

With eight sides and 65 facets, the octagonal diamond could also be seen as a good-luck charm, Brantner says, as the number eight is said to bring good fortune in Chinese and other Asian cultures.

“If you love the sparkle and light performance of a round but want something a touch different, the octagon is a great shape to consider,” Brantner adds. “The octagon is a conversation starter, and the brilliance of these diamonds dazzle each admirer up close.”

Brantner calls the shape “an incredible achievement” for James Allen and notes that the company consistently seeks to improve the industry and exceed customer expectations with its offerings, including this new option.

“We have paved the way in the online industry with our HD 360-degree diamond video technology, and we are very excited to spread the sparkle even further with our octagon-cut diamonds,” she says.

On its website, James Allen is described as a “diamond bridal jewelry company with a technology soul.” Consumers can customize a ring or other fine jewelry using its online tools. The New York–based retailer has showrooms in New York City and Washington D.C., but customers must complete their purchase through the website.

James Allen is owned by Signet Jewelers, which said in its most recent sales update that the brand and another Signet digital banner, Blue Nile, had “demonstrated strength” in the first quarter of its 2024 fiscal year (ended April 29, 2023). At the same time Signet announced it would close as many as 150 locations in its portfolio.

Top: James Allen’s new octagonal diamond cut is unique within the industry, the company says, and only available at its website and two showrooms. (Photos courtesy of James Allen) 

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Samuels talks with JCK about starting out, his memories of industry icons like Harry Winston and M.B. Zale, and his views of the jewelry business’ future:

How did you get started in the gem trade?

My brother had gone into the diamond business. Then when it was my turn to do something, I learned diamond cutting. I specialized in emerald cuts. [Cutter] Lazare Kaplan had developed the oval. He never patented it, so I started making it, too. People laughed at it. They called it the shmoval.

I was an okay cutter, but I didn’t really enjoy sitting at the bench. What I enjoyed was taking a rough diamond and creating a beautiful item. But I didn’t enjoy the work itself.

So when did you leave cutting?

By the 1950s, I started buying on my own. I’d buy from dealers who were bringing back rough from Belgium. After 10 years of struggling here in the States, I said, “I have to make a trip to Belgium. Why give these guys a profit?” For a while, I went to Antwerp almost every other week.

My forte was knowing where the diamond came from. I could look at a diamond and tell you if it was from Sierra Leone, Angola, or the Congo. I knew that certain goods would turn better color. I could see the nature of the material.

How did you begin to specialize in big diamonds?

We were one of the first in New York to trade in them, besides Harry Winston. One of the first big stones I bought was a 98-carat rough diamond. I paid $300,000 for it. That was a huge amount of money. After I bought it, I panicked. I called Gerald Rothschild, of I. Hennig. I knew Harry Winston would go to the [De Beers] sights in London, and said, “Gerald, you have to do me a favor. I need to talk to Harry Winston. Can you tell me what flight he’s on?”

He told me Winston always flew TWA. So I phoned TWA. In those days, you were able to call up and say you’d like to sit next to someone. They said, “Mr. Winston is sitting in first class.” Back then, I didn’t know what first class felt like. So I paid what was then a lot of money for me to sit in first class.

I got on the plane, and as I’m putting up my luggage, Winston said, “Marvin, what are you doing here?” I had him for eight and a half hours. He was in the window seat, and I was in the aisle seat. I said, “I just bought a 98-carat stone, and I can make a 50-carat emerald cut.” He said, “Listen to me. You’ll never sell it.” I went into a panic.

He said, “See if you can make two diamonds out of it.” I made one stone: a 47-carat emerald cut. No one wanted to buy it. At that time Christie’s was holding its first jewelry auctions. I went to Hans Nadelhoffer, the head of Christie’s Geneva, and he told me he’ll take it. He auctioned it off for $440,000. In the end I made a nice profit.

At what point did you become a De Beers sightholder?

In 1967. It took about 10 years. De Beers in those days couldn’t come to America, so it was challenging for them, because they didn’t know much about U.S. companies.

De Beers back then was a well-oiled machine. They knew when you made money, they knew when you lost it. If you went through a year where business was bad, they’d let you earn back what you lost.

You dealt with a lot of giants in the industry. What are some of your memories?

The diamond people in those days were powerhouses. I remember I once finished a blue stone, a 22-carat emerald. [Van Cleef heir] Claude Arpels came up to the office, and he went from room to room. I said, “What are you doing?” He said, “I’m looking for incandescent light. Colored diamonds are worn in a ballroom. In a ballroom, you have incandescent lighting.” I finally found an incandescent lamp, and he put the diamond under it. He said, “Not for me. It doesn’t look good in this light.” And he was right.

Morris Zale was another legend I had the privilege of not only knowing but being his partner. I will never forget when he gave me a tour of his facility in Texas, and I asked him, “M.B., how many people work here?” He looked me right in the eye and, deadpan, said, “About half.”

I had the good fortune to subsequently partner with Zale Corporation and with Louis Glick on what I consider to be one of my crowing achievements—the purchase of an 890-carat rough stone, which we cut to the 407.48-carat fancy color flawless Incomparable.

What do you see as the future of the business?

Today I’m not so sure I would be able to accomplish what I did. I was in the business before the color machine, before computers. I could buy big diamonds and know what you would get from them. I used my brain, because that was all I had.

The trust we used to have is gone. I used to be able to call up Robert Mouawad and tell him, “I have a big stone,” and he’d say, “I’ll join you if you want.” Because he trusted me.

I always found the business a lot of fun. It was challenging, of course, but it was fun. And I miss it.

(Photos courtesy of Premier Gem)