Before we immerse ourselves in the cutting process, it's essential to understand what "diamond cut" truly signifies. More than just shape, the cut determines a diamond's ability to reflect light — its brilliance, fire, and scintillation. A well-cut diamond is a testament to both nature's wonders and human ingenuity, showcasing the perfect harmony between raw material and expert craftsmanship.

The process of cutting a diamond is intricate and requires a high level of craftsmanship and precision. This guide breaks down the entire process, from the rough gemstone to the finished, sparkling diamond.

1. Planning - Meticulous analysis and selection of the optimal cut for brilliance and value.


2. Cleaving and sawing - Careful separation of the diamond into smaller pieces based on predetermined fracture lines.


3. Girdling and bruting - Shaping the diamond into a rough round form for faceting.


4. Faceting - Cutting and polishing each facet to enhance the diamond's brilliance and light interaction.


5. Polishing - Final polishing to ensure maximum light reflection and overall sparkle.


6. Grading the Diamond cut - Assessment of cut quality in a gemmological laboratory using advanced technology.


7. Certification - Obtaining a certificate detailing the diamond's characteristics, ensuring transparency and authenticity.

2. Cleaving and sawing

Once the planning phase is complete, the cutter cleaves the diamond, a process that involves separating the rough diamond into smaller, more manageable pieces. Cleaving is typically done along predetermined fracture lines, using either a mechanical saw or laser. This step is critical, as cutting along incorrect lines can cause the diamond to crumble.

3. Girdling and bruting

After cleaving, the diamond undergoes girdling and bruting, where the diamond is shaped into a rough round form. This is essential for further faceting, as it establishes the basic outline. In this stage, two diamonds can be ground against each other, or a laser is used to create precise, smooth edges. This is when the stone begins to resemble the polished diamond seen in jewellery.

4. Faceting

Once the diamond has been shaped, it is ready for faceting, a crucial step that enhances its brilliance. The stone's facets are carefully cut and polished to allow light to pass through and create scintillation. There are three main elements evaluated in the cut quality:

• Brilliance: Reflection of white light.


• Fire: Flashes of colour due to light refraction.


• Scintillation: Flashes of light when the diamond moves.

5. Polishing

After faceting, the diamond is polished to perfection, ensuring that each facet reflects the maximum amount of light. This is essential to achieve the diamond's brilliance and overall sparkle.

6. Grading the diamond cut

Once cut and polished, the diamond undergoes grading in a gemmological laboratory by experts using special anti-vibration technology and extremely high magnification. Here, experts measure cut quality using the following grades:

• Triple Excellent: Reflects the maximum amount of light.


• Excellent: Nearly perfect light reflection.


• Very Good: Reflects most light and is more affordable than "Excellent" cuts.


• Good: Reflects a fair amount of light.


• Fair: Basic reflection.


• Poor: Minimal light reflection.

A culet is the point at the base of a gemstone, that is either polished or not, to create an extra facet. Vital is that this is cut by a craftsman as this will ensure the degree of light to be let through. A culet is often cut into a point, to make the diamond sturdier.

The importance of symmetry in terms of a diamond’s value varies in line with its style and cut. With a heart or pear-shaped cut it is trickier to attain a fully symmetrical cut.

Diamond experts examine these small details in order to grade the diamond’s symmetry, ranging from poor to excellent:

• Poor (substandard): blemishes discernible with the naked eye.


• Fair (acceptable): blemishes are discernible with a 10x magnifier and sometimes with the naked eye.


• Good (good): blemishes hardly discernible with a 10x magnifier.


• Very good (very good): blemishes are really hard to discern with a 10x magnifier.


• Excellent (perfect): no discernible blemishes with a 10x magnifier.

A brilliant graded as ‘excellent’ can potentially be 15% more valuable than one a category below it. Symmetry is vitally important with round diamonds with a clarity of VVS2 upwards. Discernible blemishes would tarnish the clarity of a pure gemstone. Besides its higher value, a symmetrical diamond reflects light better. That yields an opulent look & feel to your ring or your diamond studs.

Once the diamond has been graded, it receives a certificate outlining its characteristics, including cut, clarity, colour, and carat (the 4 C's). This certificate provides transparency for buyers and ensures the authenticity and value of the diamond.

Once the quality has been approved for introduction onto the market, an evaluation report is drawn up. Only cut diamonds with a certificate can be manipulated into pieces of jewellery or be put on sale as an investment diamond. With such a certificate the jewellery or gemstone can be sold on in good faith. Should the standard quality criteria not be met, the cutter has to facet and polish the diamond again.

India is purported to be the first country where diamonds were purposefully mined for trade. A 4th century B.C. document, the Artha Castra, specified taxes on gemstones. Indeed, until 1730 India was the only country to export diamonds. The raw material was subsequently also mined in, among other places, Brazil and South Africa.

The oldest reference to diamond may derive from India, but diamond cutting was pioneered in Europe. A diamond cutting guild was established in Nürnberg, Germany in 1357. These diamond cutters concentrated on cut specifications, on how a rough gemstone was to be cut. The first to be cut was the table of the diamond, to consequently be set into jewellery pieces.

But, the real forefathers of beautifully cut diamonds as we know and love them today, were the Belgians. In 1456 Bruges-based, Lodewijk van Bercken, kickstarted the modern-day diamond cutting process. He discovered that diamonds are best cut using their own diamond dust. You see, other materials simply aren’t capable of cutting the hardest material in the world.

As such, Bruges became the diamond capital of the world, until port trade in the 16th century superseded it. After this, Antwerp became the diamond capital. To this day the city upholds its global reputation with pride. In the 17th century, one of its inhabitants, Marcel Tolkowsky, made the city worthy of its name:  he devised a scientific formula to be the first to cut a diamond in 58 facets, known today as the round brilliant cut.

At BAUNAT, we pride ourselves on delivering exceptional craftsmanship that turns every diamond into a radiant symbol of elegance and quality. Each step of the diamond cutting process — from the initial planning to the final certification — is an art form that requires precision, dedication, and expertise.

Our diamond jewellery is not only visually stunning but is crafted with a deep understanding of how to maximise both beauty and value. By embracing modern technology alongside centuries-old techniques, we ensure that each diamond sparkles with unmatched brilliance and stands as a testament to our commitment to excellence.