polls Repeated Visit To recap, during our last visit in 2020, Eugene Seah walked through with us on the what we should look out for when choosing a diamond, before introducing their White Series Decagon diamonds . Ever since that visit, we have occasionally dropped by the store to look at their jewellery collection. JANNPAUL Lab Diamonds Recently, we discovered that JP started to carry lab diamonds. Hence, we decided to drop by their store again to find out more from Eugene, about the lab diamonds in colorless and fancy colors. The lab diamonds from JP are are guaranteed to be free from stria or off hues and are all Type IIa, the chemically purest makes and are AGS or GIA certified only. They are available from D to F colors, fancy pink and blue, with VVS1 to VS1 clarity. - uses the highest quality carbon seeds only - never reuse our carbon seeds - do not add catalysts (eg. Boron, Aluminium or titanium ) to speed up the growth process - their growing chambers are contaminant
Although the YouTube videos from JannPaul (JP) frequently appeared in my search results, I did not find out more about their diamonds. This was because I was under the impression that JP is the same as the other local jewelry stores (read: expensive, hard selling coupled with poor customer service). In addition, there are only a small handful of bloggers who have briefly shared about their experience with JP. Furthermore, JP's storefront is located in the Orchard Road, an upmarket place for luxury shoppers, and this reinforced my belief that JP's beautiful diamonds will cost me an arm and a leg...ouch!
However, it wasn't until my brother spammed me numerous educational links from the JP's website, that I decided to sit up, and find out more about what JP has to offer in the HardwareZone forum.
Oh boy! I am very glad I did!
I realized that my perception was completely wrong; JP is an exceptional new generation of private diamond retailer, that focuses superb Super Ideal Cuts (SIC). Moreover, JP's controversial sales tactic, which focus on educating its consumers first, is shaking up the local diamond jewelry industry in a good way.
Impromptu Visit - Impressive Customer Service
Sometime end of Nov, I decided to pay an impromptu visit in the late evening. Even though we did not make an appointment, and all the other JP's staffs are all tied up with their appointments, Eugene Seah, the Executive Director made sure we feel welcomed by giving us a crash course on what we should look out for when choosing a diamond, and also introduced their newly released Decagon diamonds.
In addition, the ever patient Eugene even showed me the impossibly tiny Decagon diamond melee. It is amazing the baby Decagon are so sparkly bright, despite their miniature sizes! 😲
1st Official Appointment - Phenomenal Experience
After sharing my experience with my brother, he decided to set up an official appointment with Eugene and I was dragged invited along. To sum up, if my impromptu visit back then was impressive, then the official appointment is phenomenal. 🤩
This time, Eugene did a proper walk through of the 4 Cs, why HCA is not a sufficient tool to weed out the "bad" diamonds (their calculation is based on 1 facet out of 8, so how accurate can it get?), how to interpret an ASET image (the only way to tell whether if the light performance of the diamond is good), and even gave us a mini-quiz (whether if we can tell a D and a E graded diamond apart). He also did a live demonstration of how un-sparkly a poorly cut, triple Excellent GIA diamond is, prior introducing their impressive line up of their White Series - The Oval, Cushion, Octagon and Decagon.
The Oval (8 Hearts & Arrows) - Just released in Dec 2020
Based on the JP's Facebook post, the nearly released Oval 8 Hearts & Arrows diamond, is only available exclusively in JP, and nowhere else in the world. Eager to put the Oval to the test, upon my request, Eugene demonstrated to us how the ASET of a typical oval diamond looks like, as compared to the ASET of their 8 Hearts & Arrows Oval. Truth be told, their ASET images look exactly like the Facebook video below.
The Oval looks absolutely bright and lively next to its traditionally cut cousin. To illustrate its sparkle-ness, here is a live demonstration how the 8 Hearts & Arrows Oval performs under different lighting conditions; an a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y stunning performance indeed.
The Decagon (10 Hearts & Arrows) - Recently Released in Oct/Nov 2020
When I visited JP back in Nov, they have just released the Decagon with 10 Hearts and Arrows. From afar, the Decagon seems like a Modern Brilliant Round (MRB), and an edgy 10 sided beautifully cut diamond up close. Although I have seen the Decagon in person before, seeing it the second time still takes my breath away ~ sigh.
Here is another view of the Decagon.
The Octagon (8 Hearts & Arrows)
My favorite vote still goes to the 8 Hearts & Arrows Octagon! My preference for this diamond shape is largely because the shape of the Octagon still shows through, especially when the Octagon design is used for smaller sized diamonds. This is especially important since the largest Octagon JP has to offer, is only up to 0.55 carats. 😔
The making of a truly exceptional, unique engagement ring is a journey; and having an impressively well cut diamond only marked the start, ensuring that the design of the ring matches the magnificence of the diamond, is yet another big step before the creation is finally complete.
Yup, throughout our engagement with Eugene, he has repeatedly emphasized that every piece of product which JP produces is a masterpiece; and I have to concur; there is no doubt that every artist involved in the process; from the selection, cutting of the diamond, designing and forging of the ring, and setting of the diamond, has certainly exemplified great mastery, artistry and precision. Case in point?
The Decagon is a modern interpretation of the tradition MRB, therefore the incongruity of setting the Decagon in the traditional ring design would greatly disturb me. As a consequence, I am so excited that JP has an astounding range of intricate ring settings (which BTW, really tug my heartstrings), to bring out the voguish aura of the Decagon.
Check out the JP's Instagram for the drool worthy ring designs; yah, yah..they made me want to temporarily abandon my ultimate quest for the Pink Diamond.
The recent JP's 1mm-ish (shank width) minimalist designs are somewhat seeped in the exquisite Kataoka-ish vibes, which I absolutely adore. Yes, I deeply believe that simplicity is truly the ultimate sophistication...and JP's delicate designs seem to embody the very essence of that philosophy.
For the uninitiated, my ongoing efforts to customize the ring shank width (I was looking for the 1mm-ish ring for my US size 3.75 - 4 finger) with White Flash and James Allen have been unsuccessful. They have cited durability as reasons why they are unable to proceed with the customization. However, the rings offered by JP feel very sturdy and solid and I believe they are durable enough for daily wear.
The Price - Reasonably Cheap for a Brick & Mortar (B&M) store
Singapore's typical B&M diamond retailers (SK, Lee Hwa, GoldHeart etc) are notorious for selling Good/Triple Excellent cut diamonds without providing an ASET. Their SIC cut diamonds command an even higher price premium and may not come with an ASET. Case in point?
My brother had purchased a 0.4 carats SIC Destinee from Lee Hwa (which does not come with either a GIA or ASET certificate) at well over $5k SGD. For the same price, he could have purchased a 0.5+ carats Decagon from JP, which comes with an impressive ASET and performance to boot.
What about online retailers? The SIC MRB offered by JP is slightly more expensive when compared to the online reputable SIC vendors such as White Flash, Brian Gavin as they offer a wider range of SIC (for color, until K graded diamonds, for clarity until SI2 range) to fit a wider range of budget, However, considering that JP is a physical store, and retails primarily propriety cuts (such as the Oval, Octagon and Decagon) not found elsewhere, it is not a fair comparison per se.
Bottom Line
SIC diamonds are definitely not for everyone, since they come at a premium. If SIC MRB is still your preference, you should consider checking the MRB from White Flash, Brian Gavin first, before committing a purchase at JP.
If you are looking at a Good/Triple Excellent cut diamond jewelry, you should consider conducting your search with the online reputable vendors such as James Allen or Blue Nile since they are much cheaper (even after factoring in the GST).
However, if you are not comfortable at purchasing diamond jewelry from an online store, you should consider getting them from the House of Hung, which is situated next to JP; their highly experienced staffs and a huge inventory of either GIA or AGS certified diamonds, which are reasonably priced, should offer you a piece of mind when you shop!
My Takeaway
Oops! Seems like my almost perfect JA ring is not so perfect after all! Yup, I am seriously considering the Octagon or the Decagon, for my "daily" ring (or as a pendant). However, I need to figure out my cut preference and choose 1 between the 2.
Since JP is not one that rests on its laurels, and is constantly experimenting and innovating, I am really looking forward to the revolutionary precision cut diamonds it has to offer in the future. Who knows? Maybe JP might offer a much better interpretation of the Crisscut, Square Hearts and Arrows, Tiffany Lucida or August Vintage European ...which are my favorite to-die-for diamond cuts.
JannPaul Diamonds
Address : 545 Orchard Road Far East Shopping Center #1-23, Singapore 238882
Note: JP is next to the House of Hung Alight at Orchard MRT, walk towards Icon Orchard H&M, exit from Wheellock and turn left, towards Far East Shopping Center.
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