1. You grew up immersed in the world of natural diamonds in Hong Kong. What was the specific turning point that led you to deviate from the family legacy to establish a brand focused on lab-grown diamonds?
Growing up in a three-generation family of diamantaires, diamonds were never just a business for me. They were a language I grew up speaking. But it was in 2017 that I first began to see lab-grown diamonds not as a disruption to that world, but as its natural evolution. The technology was gaining serious traction in the West, and what struck me most was that this was not a compromise on quality or beauty. It was a genuine advancement. I realised there was an opportunity to take everything I had grown up learning about diamonds and apply it to building something new, something that felt right for where the world was heading. The family legacy did not feel abandoned. It felt like the foundation for the next chapter.
2. You’ve mentioned that traditional jewelry often felt too “bulky” for modern tastes. How does DiAi Designs bridge the gap between “fine jewelry” and pieces that are practical for daily wear?
When I launched DiAi Designs in 2018, the gap I kept seeing was that fine jewellery and wearable jewellery were treated as entirely separate categories. Pieces that used diamonds and gold were designed for occasions, for the locker, for the moment you took them out once a year. Wearable jewellery, on the other hand, rarely used materials that lasted. Nobody was doing both. What I wanted to build was something that sat firmly in both worlds: classic enough to last, modern enough to actually be worn. The way we approach that is through design that is intentionally made to stack and layer, to sit alongside pieces you already own and love. A DiAi Designs piece should not demand its own occasion. It should move through your everyday life with you.
3. The Rose Octagon features an impressive 105 facets. Could you walk us through the technical journey of engineering a cut that replicates the depth and movement of a rose?
The starting point was never the number of facets. It was the behaviour of light. When we set out to engineer the Rose Octagon, the question we kept coming back to was not how many facets we could fit into the geometry, but how we could make the stone feel alive in the way a rose does. A rose has depth that changes depending on how you look at it, and we wanted the diamond to do the same thing. The octagonal shape gave us a strong architectural foundation to work from, but the real work was in mapping the facet pattern in a way that created genuine movement rather than just maximum brilliance. Every proportion decision had a consequence for the ones around it, so the refinement process was slow and deliberate. What we arrived at was a cut where the interaction between facets does something you cannot fully anticipate until you see it in person. That unpredictability, that sense of revealing something new each time, is what makes it feel like the flower it was designed after.
4. What was the inspiration behind launching this specific cut for Mother’s Day, and how does it represent the “strength and legacy” of motherhood?
The rose felt like the only starting point. It is the most universally sought-after flower, and what draws people to it is exactly what draws us to the women we are celebrating: layers of grace and beauty that unfold slowly, and a strength that exists beneath all of it. Like motherhood itself, the rose is not without its thorns. The journey is complex and sometimes difficult, but it is also one of the most beautiful things a person can experience. What we wanted to do was translate that into something wearable and permanent, a piece that holds the same emotional depth as the sentiment it represents, but made to last far beyond a single occasion.
5. What is the most common misconception you encounter regarding lab-grown diamonds, and how do you educate your community about their value?
The most persistent misconception is that lab-grown diamonds are somehow lesser, that because they were not pulled from the earth, they are not real. That simply is not true. A lab-grown diamond is chemically, physically, and optically identical to a natural one. The process replicates what happens beneath the earth’s surface and the result is the same diamond. What I always tell people is to focus on what actually matters when buying fine jewellery: the certification, the colour, the clarity, and above all the cut, because that is what gives the diamond its life and sparkle. The other thing I am often asked about is resale value, and my honest answer is that diamonds, whether natural or lab-grown, should not be purchased as a financial investment. They are for beauty, for meaning, and for the joy of wearing something exceptional every day.
6. Beyond the diamonds, DiAi Designs uses recycled gold. How do you maintain transparency and ethical standards throughout your production process?
For us, responsibility does not begin and end with the diamond. Every diamond we use is certified by recognised grading laboratories including IGI and SGL, ensuring complete transparency on quality and origin. The gold in every DiAi Designs piece is hallmarked, the clearest assurance of quality and authenticity that exists in the Indian market. Combined with lab-grown diamonds, which remove the ethical burden of mining entirely, we are building pieces where every element of the production process has been considered. It is not something we make a great deal of noise about, because for us it is simply the baseline of how responsible jewellery should be made.
7. You are known for your expertise in bridal styling. What is the most sentimental or unique custom request you’ve ever brought to life for a bride?
There is one that stays with me. In 2024, we worked with a bride to curate not just her bridal jewellery but her entire trousseau: her bridal looks, her gifting needs, every piece across every occasion of the wedding. We designed each piece specifically for her, and what made the whole experience meaningful was the intention behind it. She did not want pieces that would go straight into the locker the morning after the wedding. She wanted jewellery she would actually wear. And that is exactly what happened. She wears those pieces every day now, which to me is the greatest compliment a jewellery designer can receive. A piece that finds its way into someone’s everyday life has done something far more significant than a piece that only comes out once a year.
8. Aside from your new launch, what are the key jewelry trends you believe will define the second half of 2026?
Three directions feel particularly strong right now. The first is sculptural jewellery, pieces with real architectural intention where the form carries as much interest as the stone. The second is celestial motifs, which have been building for a while but feel like they are coming into their own this year with a maturity and refinement that moves them well beyond the trend cycle. The third is the broader return of gemstones, not as accent stones but as the central focus, with colour and character. Across all three, the common thread is that buyers are looking for pieces with a genuine point of view. The appetite for jewellery that simply holds a diamond is giving way to jewellery that has something to say.
9. As a woman leading change in a traditional industry, what advice do you have for aspiring female entrepreneurs looking to balance growth with sustainability?
Stay rooted in your values, and the rest follows from there. That sounds simple, but in practice it means being willing to walk away from things that feel misaligned, even when the commercial case for them seems reasonable. If something does not feel right, it is almost always because it is not. The jewellery industry in particular is a deeply traditional space, and there are real challenges that come with trying to change the way things have always been done. What I have learned is that the most effective way to navigate those challenges is not to fight them directly, but to find your way through them with intelligence and grace. Build something genuine, stay consistent, and let the work make the argument for you.
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