Mixed Cut Diamonds: What They Are and How to Wear Them

Fanciful flowers, geometric motifs, modern updates to traditional styles—there’s no end to what designers can achieve when mixed cut diamond shapes in a single piece. Each of the major diamond cuts—round, rose, princess, emerald, marquise, oval, pear, heart, and cushion—has  a different look and feel to it. “I love mixing diamond cuts—it really allows you to see the unique properties of each shape, and how they complement one another,” says designer Stephanie Gottlieb. “Every shape has its own level of sparkle and light performance, which makes the piece vibrant and interesting to look at!” 

Read More: Jewels by the Pool: How Stephanie Gottlieb Styles Her Summer Jewelry

We couldn’t agree more. While round diamonds might be the most popular, mixing diamond cuts creates pieces that go with everything and are unexpected. Our round-up of gorgeous diamond jewelry featuring mixed cuts ranges from high-jewelry stunners to updated classics and fun pieces you can wear every day.  

De Beers

South Africa’s Motlatse Canyon and its intense colors inspired the Motlatse Marvel necklace from De Beers’ high-jewelry collection, Reflections of Nature, which was released earlier this year. The canyon is one of the largest canyons in the world—it’s over 13 miles long and 2,600 feet deep—and has incredible rock formations that are ablaze in warm shades of orange, yellow, and pink. At sunset and sunrise, these colors are even more remarkable. De Beers exclusively features diamonds in its jewelry, so its gemologists carefully selected a range of fancy-colored diamonds that would evoke the fiery colors of the Motlatse Canyon, ultimately creating the stunning Motlatse Marvel necklace. 

The necklace features a beautiful mix of diamond cuts and colors suspended from a channel of white princess-cut diamonds. This style evokes the brilliant rays of the sun and the way the canyon looks at sunrise and sunset. The central diamond ray showcases the largest diamond in the necklace, a 3.01-carat white pear-cut diamond, as well as two significant fancy-colored diamonds. The colors and size of the diamonds are the most intense here at the center of the necklace, and they gradually fade and become smaller as they wrap around the neck. 

Most of the diamond rays feature different cuts of diamonds, including round, marquise, and pear. These mixed cuts evoke the striations in the rock and the rock formations that make the canyon so unique. Each diamond is separated by a white gold bar, which emphasizes the color differences between the diamonds. The Motlatse Marvel necklace features a mix of brown, orange, pink, and yellow diamonds, as well as white diamonds. De Beers’ expert gem setters used 18K yellow, rose, and white gold to perfectly complement each diamond’s color and let their beauty and unique colors shine through. This amazing piece of jewelry has 309 diamonds in total, weighing in at 66 carats.

Repossi

Creative Director Gaia Repossi reinvented traditional jewelry codes when she took over her family’s jewelry business in 2007. Repossi is known for a unique combination of diamond cuts, open and asymmetrical designs, and exceptional craftsmanship. The Brevis necklace is a perfect example of her design aesthetic. The open necklace features two different sections that cross behind each other at the back. A thinner, more subtle section features two rows of pavé diamonds, which accents an incredible section of pavé diamonds and square-cut diamonds. Both ends are topped with a significant pear-cut diamond—each around 5.50 carats. Characteristic of Repossi, one is set horizontally while the other is set vertically. This mix of cuts, angles, and designs is simply stunning. The Brevis bracelet plays with this design, too. It combines three different bands with baguette, pavé, and pear-cut diamonds. 

Stephanie Gottlieb 

Stephanie Gottlieb is known for her more-is-more aesthetic and stacks of rainbow-hued bracelets. Naturally, she brings a bit of irreverence to classic drop diamond earrings. She transforms a traditional piece into a funky, modern earring by mixing round, pear, marquise, princess, and heart-shaped diamonds—each approximately .50 carats each—and setting them at interesting angles. We love the combinations of five different mixed cut diamonds in one piece. 

Nina Runsdorf

Nina Runsdorf’s enchanting jewelry collections frequently feature diamonds in unusual ways. The Upper East side jeweler specializes in diamond slices, dancing briolettes, significant stones, as well as her signature Flip rings. Another playful way to feature diamonds is her updated take on a tennis bracelet. This bracelet features rough, gray diamonds separated by bars of grey enamel. The diamonds are set in rose gold, which accentuates their warm hue. She mixes cushion, pear, and round diamonds in this piece. There are drop matching earrings available, too. Looking for a more classic piece? This modern style also comes in classic faceted white diamonds with white gold, mixing pear, heart, marquise, cushion, and oval diamonds. 

Kwiat

Kwiat is known for its exceptional diamond jewelry—the family opened its first shop in New York in 1907. In the past century, it has experimented with all types of jewelry design, including mixing different diamond cuts in a single piece. These earrings from the Starry Night collection feature three rows of sideways-set diamonds, including round, marquise, and oval shapes. For a more everyday piece, the Cobblestone ring is a perfect choice. This wide 18K yellow gold band mimics the paved stones of cobblestone streets, but in glamorous diamonds. It is set with larger baguette, marquise, pear, and round diamonds, with petite round diamonds scattered throughout for a total of 2.05 carats.  

Brent Neale 

New York City-based designer Brent Neale is known for her excellent craftsmanship and whimsical designs. Her collections feature symbols, stars, colorful flowers, and pieces inspired by Alice in Wonderland. She also specializes in custom jewelry, like this bespoke Morse Code band. This incredibly unique ring features round, baguette, and marquise diamonds that spell out the initials ‘M’ and ‘R’ in Morse code. Clients can customize this ring to spell out other initials, or even a brief secret message. 

Ananya

Ananya’s incredible Mogra collection is inspired by the jasmine flower, which is called ‘mogra’ in Hindi. She interprets the flower using white diamonds mixed with mother-of-pearl, crafting beautiful pieces that are modern, but pay homage to traditional Indian jewelry. The geometric motif swirls around each piece, mixing mother-of-pearl with several different diamonds. Small, round diamonds form the base of the pieces, and they are accented with diamond baguettes and rose-cut pear-shaped diamonds, which look like the petals of the jasmine flowers. The bracelet and the ring evoke the flower’s shape, while the earrings are a more abstract interpretation. 

London Jewelers

This modern open ring from London Jewelers’ in-house collection, the aptly named London Collection, showcases the casual beauty of mixed diamond cuts. It features 10 diamonds and mixes pear, round, marquise, and baguette shapes. Each diamond is set at a different angle, which adds a modern feel to the piece. It’s perfect to wear every day, but is still special enough for formal events. 

Sara Weinstock

These stunning Reverie earrings from Sara Weinstock cleverly use clusters of diamonds to recreate the look of more significant stones, making a statement piece much more affordable. She mixes six diamond clusters, each made from round diamonds, that are shaped like different diamond cuts, including cushion, round, marquise, and pear. In total, these earrings feature 3.06 carats of diamonds, but still have the drama of couture earrings.