When J-Lo wanted something sparkly and several carats to wear onOscar night, and Ralph Lauren needed some rather special gems toincorporate into the gold stirrup-themed jewellery used in the 40thbirthday celebrations of his label, their jewellers and agentscalled on Fraser Brown, one of New York's specialist diamond dealersand an innovative jeweller in his own right.
'We were close to the goldsmith involved in Ralph Lauren's 40thanniversary and helped conceptualise some ideas which led to somewow pieces. And I'm also very close professionally to LorraineSchwartz who supplied the jewellery for J-Lo at the Oscars,' Fraserreveals.
So it was natural for Diet Coke to invite the Portaferry-borndiamond expert to create individual pieces of jewellery for the 10Northern Ireland winners - 50% of the total - of their Diamondcompetition this summer.
Fraser (37) has enjoyed the task and says: 'They've given mecarte blanche and the diamonds given away as prizes are one caratwhich would cost anything from Pounds 5,000 to Pounds 7,000 on theopen market.'
He has designed a sapphire and diamond heart necklace,conventional rings and a diamond navel ring for Marcella, a truckdriver from Limerick. How did he feel about that? 'It's her buzz andso I was happy to do it.'
Diamonds are definitely this boy's best friend. He has beenworking in the States, first in Los Angeles and now in New York, forthree years and his company, diamond.ie, has an annual turnover of amillion dollars - 'not bad for a one man show'.
Fraser not only wears diamonds himself, he has created a range ofmen's fashion rings. He says: 'I use rough diamonds which are agreat natural stone although not sparkly. I'm a fan of men's diamondjewellery and own a gold Bulgari money clip with black onyx in thecentre which I removed and replaced with a black diamond. So ifpeople see it and like it, I say 'I can produce one for you'.'
Before getting into the diamond business, Fraser trained in navalarchitecture at Newcastle University then worked for Harland &Wolff. He also became an Olympic standard yachtsman, reaching thetop 10 in the world and coming first in 2003 at an Olympic statusevent at Kiel. 'This was hard core sailing and the boats are likenothing you ever knew existed - if you Google 49er sailing, you'llsee what I mean.'
The route from water sports to hard mineral gems came when Fraserdecided he wanted to start his own business and took an MBA atTrinity College, Dublin. 'I'd been interested in having a businesssince I was about 12, partly because my father had his own businessin Portaferry building and designing yachts.'
He became a strategy management consultant in 2000, at the heightof the Dublin technology boom, then started to think about diamonds.
As Fraser explains: 'I was always looking for businessopportunities and became interested in selling diamonds online. It'sa great thing to do, selling something the price of a car and thenputting it in the post without the hassle of car dealership oranything.' He finds the money side exciting, but there is also theromance connected with these prized jewels.
He continues: 'I think the excitement is the same as it alwayswas, to do with sitting down with a young couple choosing animportant ring. Most of my clients are in love, which makes itreally good fun. My job is to help them get the most bang for theirbucks.'
If you have a limited budget, say Pounds 800, you could buy anice bespoke fashion ring but Fraser says that people normally havea starting budget of 'Pounds 1,500 - and go right up'.
Right up can mean to several million dollars and Fraser iscurrently helping a client who is keen to buy a pair of matchingdiamond earrings, with each jewel worth 10 carats, which willeventually result in a price tag of well over $1m.
Taste varies according to which part of the world you're in.Apparently, green diamonds, which are rare, go to Dubai, while'Americans like big stones and are prepared to sacrifice colour andclarity'. In Europe, buyers tend to regard colour and clarity asmore important than size.
Fraser likes to supply his customers with the premium, whiterdiamonds. There is a relatively complex grading system with thepurest shade D and the nearly colourless G, H and I. The cut of adiamond is also vital to the effect of an individual jewel.
'There are fashions, with the round cut being popular now, andthe Princess square cut, but I like what's known as a cushion cut, across between a round and a Princess. It's square but rounded at thecorners and is a big celebrity diamond shape,' he says.
The process from mine to fourth finger on the left hand takes inthe initial expensive mining process, mainly in South Africa, butalso in Canada, Australia 'and we get a lot from Russia', then thediamonds go to manufacturing centres round the world, and finally onto the dealers. 'There are all the Jewish families here in New York,some Indians, and then there's me.'
Fraser has excellent contacts, and declares: 'We can getanything'. He'll hear on the grapevine that there might be somevaluable blue diamonds around, and will then see if any of hisclientele might be in the market for them.
Although he claims the engagement ring he bought his wife Emma'wasn't my best ever purchase', Fraser clearly relishes his day today job matching client to jewel. It's a nice job for a diamondgeezer.
