What It’s Like from the Desk of Diamond Jewelry Designers

Natural diamond jewelry designers Briony Raymond, Jacquie Aiche, and Ten Thousand Things designers Ron Anderson and David Rees take Only Natural Diamonds behind the scenes to see their personal workspaces where the creative magic happens.

It’s where ideas become realities. It’s where the natural diamond jewels worn on the red carpet started to sparkle in a pencil sketch. It’s where symbolic diamond designs are first given shape. It’s where diamond engagement rings are initially laid out.

A jewelry designer’s desk is a place where you can find all sources of inspiration, collaborations in process as well as tools of the trade and personal passions.

Briony Raymond

Two years ago, vintage jewelry purveyor and designer, Briony Raymond moved into her grand by-appointment-only atelier located in Midtown Manhattan’s historic Fuller Building. The 4,000-square-foot space includes a welcoming area with De Gournay wallpaper and a marble floor with the company logo inset in brass.

Guests take a few steps toward an arrangement of jewelry cases surrounded by art and antiques where they can peruse the inventory that has proven to be irresistible to any number of celebrities. Beyoncé, Jennifer Lawrence, and Ayo Edebiri are a few who have worn Briony’s diamonds recently.

At the end of the long open space divided by arches in a style of architecture called enfilade is a sitting area with Schumacher sapphire cut velvet sofas and then Briony’s office and desk. “I wanted it to feel luxurious and fun,” explains Briony. “It is serious jewelry, but the process of acquiring it doesn’t need to be.”

1. The desk

“My creative process begins and ends here on this 18^th-century French desk. All my sketches are done here. I write a thank you note to every single person who buys a piece of jewelry at this desk. I review remounts and redesigns with clients. It’s as big as a draftsman’s table because I wanted enough space for everything to happen comfortably.”

2. The silver frames and objects

“I have been a crazy antique silver collector since I was like 12. My dad was English. We spent every summer in England and the South of France where we went to Portobello Road and markets, and I fell in love with silver. I was fascinated by the repoussé work and the intricacy of the designs. The silver frames on and around my desk have pictures of my husband Luke and sons Rhys and Vaughn.”

3. The monogrammed Louis Vuitton makeup case

I love makeup and products, creams, and serums so my makeup case is pretty much always near at hand. I used to do makeup for my friends growing up, including for prom.

4. The drinks

I have an ice-cold martini at the end of the day. The can is Phocus, the only caffeinated beverage I drink. I bought the Murano glass pitcher during a trip to Venice. The Tiffany coasters are a tribute to my mother who always insisted on a coaster or an underplate on any beverage on a table.

5. The coins on the desk

The coins are part of a special commission from a client. They were all made during her birth year. We are going to do different bezels around each one in a necklace.

6. The chocolates

“There are so many different wonderful jewelers in the world. I am so grateful when people come here and spend time with me. I enjoy having things like the chocolates, which are made for me by a small chocolatier, and offering them as a gesture of gratitude.”

Jacquie Aiche

Jacquie Aiche works out of a Bungalow in Beverly Hills that reflects the glamorous bohemian spirit of her expansive jewelry and lifestyle collection. In the main house, there is a yoga room next to the space used for shipping, a showroom, and a resident mystic advisor. Jacquie’s desk is situated in the back of the house in what was once a three-car garage. The entire home used to be where Jacquie lived with her husband, Ygal, and two children Luca and Zoe until she took it over.

In the special converted space, where Jacquie began working in 2008, she does it all. It’s where she leads her team who she lovingly calls the “JA Tribe” and designs high profile one-of-a-kind creations like the elaborate diamond belly chain Rihanna memorably debuted while pregnant with her second child and the dazzling diamond “U” pendant Usher wore during his Super Bowl Halftime performance. Jacquie also comes up with new jewelry collections, works on her wildly successful collab of watches with Timex, and hashes out ideas for her popular marketing campaign as well as her lavish annual magazine the Bungalow Diaries.

1. The crystals

“All the different bowls of crystals represent a crystal from a time in my life when I needed a specific crystal to heal me and make me feel better. There are also trays of crystals waiting for me to manifest what they want to become.”

2. The jewelry

“It’s all different things from new collection pieces to my beads, some of which I am not ready to part with yet. There are some earrings for piercings. During Covid, I went from 4 to 9 piercings, and I am just about ready for more.”

3. The Timex x Jacquie Aiche Watch

“From the collab, my favorite sunrise design is on my desk. The project all started shortly after my dad had been through many surgeries and he paraphrased the old Timex slogan, ‘I take a licking and keep on ticking.’ Right around that time, I got an email from Timex asking if I would consider a collaboration.”

4. Campaign collage

“Those are my OG icons, the original babe crew including Emily Ratajkowski, Behati Prinsloo, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Chanel Iman. All the models I work with wore the jewelry before we collaborated. I can’t hire someone and just put jewelry on them. It doesn’t dance the same way.”

5. The In and Out grilled cheese

“My desk is a reflection of my life and my kids brought that to me during our photo shoot when they were on their way back from school. I also have Kiehl’s Crème de Corps and probiotics, so I am moisturized, and my gut flora is on point.”

Ten Thousand Things

When Ron Anderson and David Rees named their company Ten Thousand Things over 30 years ago, they were thinking of the line of ancient Chinese philosophy from the Tao Te Ching, “From one thing begets the ten thousand things.” To this day, the work done on their jeweler’s benches—which function as their only desks—proves how they live by this tenet.

Ron and David, who finish each other’s sentences and sometimes answer yes or no questions in unison, each have decades-old samples of jewels that didn’t work on their benches. “You look at things and think how to refine them and make them better,” explains Ron. “You never know what is going to inspire you,” David adds.

While Ron and David are totally in sync, they work very differently on the collection. Ron brings the fire with a torch he applies to metal work and David spends a lot of time carving waxes for gem shapes and gold pendants set with natural diamonds. All of it is done in the about 150-square foot back-of-house space of their tiny beloved and always buzzy West Village retail boutique in Manhattan where it is not unusual for a Supermodel who has been wearing the work for decades or an A-list movie star who lives in the neighborhood to drop by to say hello, hangout and shop.

1. The jeweler’s benches

Anderson: “We have had these benches for about 30 years. They are classics like the LED task lamps we use and the 10x jeweler’s magnifier headband goggles.”

2. The vibe

Rees: Jewelers need a quiet environment because the work is intricate. So, we create our own little bubbles by listening to various things wearing Bose earbuds.

Anderson: I’ve been playing the Lil’ Kim station on Pandora lately.

Rees: Recently, I’ve been obsessed with the true crime podcasts about the Murdaugh murders. 

3. The green tank

Anderson: “The green tank is oxygen and there is a propane tank too. It’s welder’s stuff used to power my torch. The combination of the two allows me to adjust the flame.”

4. Tools

Rees: “With jewelers, it’s all about tools. Sometimes we will sit back here and just nerd out on certain tools. When you lose a tool it’s instant fury and accusation, ‘Who took my favorite carving tool!?’”

5. The green waxes

Rees: “Nothing makes me happier than transforming a square of wax into something. Most often they are for stone shapes, which we give to our Indian lapidaries. Sometimes they are for gold and diamond pieces.”

6. Sketches on the wall

Rees: “Ron works directly with metal, but I do rough sketches and put them on the bulletin board among vintage inspiration pictures of Cher and Nina Simone in giant pendant earrings as well as a couple of decades-old pictures of Ron and I.”