Diamond and pearl: the Isaac Westman pairing
Warm against cold, soft against sharp — the pairing this house is known for.
Diamond and pearl is an old combination that has never needed reviving, and the reason is optical rather than sentimental. The two gems handle light in opposite ways, and each one makes the other more visible.
Why the combination works
A diamond is cut. Every facet is an engineered flat surface placed to catch light and throw it back at the eye in a sharp point. It sparkles, which is to say it flashes and goes dark and flashes again as you move.
A pearl is not cut at all. Light enters the nacre — hundreds of microscopic layers of aragonite crystal — travels through it, and comes back out softened. It does not sparkle. It glows, steadily, from what looks like just under the surface.
Side by side, each one reads more clearly because of the other. The diamond looks brighter against something soft; the pearl looks deeper against something hard. It is the same reason a single point of light reads better in a dim room than in a bright one.
It is also why the pairing photographs so well, and why it has been the wedding-jewelry combination for a century.
How we source the diamond side
Through cutters in the major diamond centers, directly, which is the reason we can hold a stated standard rather than an approximate one.
The house standard across every piece: VS2 clarity or better, H–I color or better. Center stones of 1.00 carat and above carry GIA or IGI certification. Accent diamonds are matched for color, clarity, and proportion — which matters more in a pearl and diamond piece than almost anywhere else, because there is nothing for a mismatched accent stone to hide behind.
What the grades actually mean is in the 4Cs of diamonds.
How we source the pearl side
From the farms. We have been importing pearl direct for four decades, and we were among the first direct importers of both Akoya and freshwater pearl to major North American retailers.
Buying at the farm means seeing a harvest before it is sorted for export, and choosing rather than accepting. It is also the only way to know with certainty what you are selling — which type, which region, treated or untreated.
Every pearl is selected by hand for luster first, then surface, then overtone. In a piece that also carries diamonds, luster is not negotiable: a chalky pearl beside a bright stone looks worse than the same pearl alone.
More on judging a pearl properly in what AAA pearl grading actually means.
Where the pairing shows best
| Piece | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Pearl drop below a diamond stud | The diamond at the lobe, the pearl in motion below it. The most wearable version. |
| A single pearl in a diamond frame | Maximum contrast in the smallest piece. Excellent as a pendant. |
| Strand with a diamond clasp worn to the front | A classical strand with one deliberate point of light. |
| Tahitian pearl with white diamond | Dark against bright — the strongest contrast pearl offers. |
Craft
The difficulty in a pearl and diamond piece is that the two materials want different things from a setting.
Diamond is the hardest natural substance and can be held in prongs under tension. Pearl is soft — softer than any gemstone — and cannot. A pearl is drilled and mounted on a post or a cup with cement, and the metal around it has to protect it without touching it in a way that abrades.
Getting that right in a single piece is hand work, and it is done at our New York atelier, where the same people grade the diamond, select the pearl, and set both.
Care
The pairing has one rule that outranks everything else: do not let them touch in storage. Diamond will scratch nacre without any effort at all, and a diamond stud loose in a box with a pearl strand will do damage in a week.
- Store pearls separately, flat, in a soft pouch — never hanging, which stretches the silk.
- Pearls go on last, after perfume, hairspray, and lotion, and come off first.
- Wipe with a soft cloth after wearing.
- Never use an ultrasonic or steam cleaner on a piece containing pearl, even if the diamonds would be fine.
The full routine is in how to care for pearls. Annual inspection, cleaning, and restringing are complimentary with us.
Browse the pearl collection and the diamond collection, or read which pearl is right for me.
Enchanting. Intriguing. Refined.
ISAAC WESTMAN® · New York · Founded 1982