Choosing the stone is the hardest part

Selecting the material is an essential stage in how VENDORIA works: every stone is examined under the loupe before it is considered in the drawing. The right stone brings a whole piece to life. A nearly-right one does not.

Every diamond above 0.3 carat comes with an independent certificate stating weight, colour, clarity and cut. The certificate is issued by a third-party laboratory, not by us.

The certificate is where we start, not where we stop. Then comes the eye: a VENDORIA gemmologist looks at the stone in daylight, beside the others destined for the same piece, and sets aside those that match on paper but not in light.

For coloured stones we state the country of origin and whether the stone has been heated. Heating is standard practice and not a flaw — what matters is that it is disclosed. Bringing light to a piece, coloured stones are chosen by the atelier's gemmologists for hue, saturation and how they hold light beside gold.

Like the precious stones, the ornamental materials — pearl, onyx, turquoise, mother-of-pearl — go through a full assessment: evenness of colour, lustre, no hidden fractures. They are not cheaper in time; a matched strand of pearls takes weeks to assemble.

The chosen stones then pass to the atelier's artisans, who build the settings, set and polish them so as to keep the very light that made them worth choosing. A set takes longer than a single piece because every stone in it must match the others, not just be beautiful alone.