De Beers’ Cascade Jewellery Pairs Diamonds With Blue Chalcedony

Water provides the organising idea for De Beers London’s Vibrations high-jewellery collection. Across its suites, inland landscapes become studies in movement, articulation and light. Cascade gives that idea a particularly sculptural expression, pairing diamonds with soft-blue chalcedony in pieces inspired by South Africa’s Tugela Falls.

The suite forms part of the collection’s latest expansion, joining the earlier Echo designs alongside Shimmer and Undulation. Its four creations concentrate on the force and volume of falling water: a long line descending, a curve turning back on itself, a cluster of light gathering at a point.

A softer surface for diamonds

Chalcedony introduces a gentle translucency into the compositions. De Beers describes Cascade as its first use of the hardstone in high jewellery, selecting blue beads and carved forms to sit beside several diamond cuts. Round brilliants, pears, ovals, baguettes, princess cuts and pavé settings create changes in scale and reflection around the smoother blue surfaces.

Cascade earrings with diamond tops and three strands of pale blue beads. Courtesy De Beers London.

The necklace takes the form of a sautoir, with strands of chalcedony beads gathering around a sculptural centre. The detailed product notes specify 18-karat white gold and a 2.23-carat pear-cut diamond, supported by other diamond cuts and the beaded strands. A supplied still life places the piece against a pale blue, water-like setting, making its flowing construction particularly visible.

Sculptural Cascade ring with twisting pavé diamond bands and pale blue accents. Courtesy De Beers London.

Movement at a smaller scale

The earrings explore more than one expression of the same idea. One pair carries removable tassels of chalcedony beads; another uses carved blue forms intertwined with diamond-set curves. The cocktail ring condenses the suite’s volume around a 2.02-carat pear-cut diamond, its carved chalcedony sections giving the composition a sense of rotation.

Cascade drop earrings with twisted diamond-set forms and pear-shaped pendants. Courtesy De Beers London.

That interplay is the suite’s strength. The diamonds supply bright, precise points of light, while the chalcedony gives the eye a quieter surface to follow. Cascade turns its landscape reference into a design problem involving proportion, movement and material, with each jewel offering a different resolution.

Featured image: Courtesy De Beers London.