How to buy a cushion diamond online

Buying a cushion cut diamond online can be particularly challenging if you don't know what to look for because the term "cushion cut" is used by the gemological laboratories to describe any brilliant cut diamond which has a pillow-like shape.

One of the biggest challenges that diamond buyers face trying to buy a cushion cut diamond online, is that the wide variation in facet structures, makes it practically impossible to find consistency in the overall light performance and sparkle factor of the various options being considered.

The Facet Structure of Cushion Cut Diamonds:

For instance, when we conducted a search online for cushion cut diamonds, we found a myriad of facet designs for "cushion cut diamonds" but the three pictured to the left seemed to be the most prominent in the search results.

As a diamond cutter, Brian Gavin knows that each of these facet designs will produce dramatically different types of light return and thus our eyes will interpret the eyes quite differently.

Understand that the volume of light return, is not the same as the type of light return, and that the proportions of the diamond, and not the facet structure will dictate the volume of light return... the only top tier gemological laboratory which grades diamonds for Light Performance is the American Gem Society Laboratory (AGSL) and that this information is only available for diamonds graded on their Platinum Light Performance grading platform.

When Brian looks at the plotting diagrams of the three diamonds pictured to the left, he knows that each diamond is going to exhibit a different amount of brilliance, dispersion, and scintillation, that each one will sparkle differently.

What's Different About the Brian Gavin Cushion Cut:

Very few people consider the facet design of cushion cut diamonds when they are shopping for one, most likely because they are simply not aware of the difference that the facet structure of a diamond has upon the size of the flashes of light and the sparkle factor.

Another factor which contributes to the shape of a cushion cut diamond is that they are usually cut from diamond rough which is inconsistent in shape and quality, thus the overall shape and facet design of practically every cushion cut diamond is different from the next, even when they are produced by the same diamond cutter.

This was something which frustrated Brian Gavin, and one of the reasons why he set forth to design a cushion cut diamond which is consistent in shape, facet design, light return and visual performance. After years of research, Brian Gavin designed his Signature Cushion Cut Diamond, which is so unique that the design is patented. This is the facet pattern of the Brian Gavin Signature Cushion:

One of the incredible benefits of this facet design is that it produces a pattern of Hearts and Arrows that is visible when the diamond is viewed while unmounted through a Hearts & Arrows viewer. The incredible optical symmetry that is necessary to produce this pattern of Hearts and Arrows, creates more sparkle and scintillation!

In order to achieve this level of optical symmetry, Brian produces his Signature Cushion Cut Diamonds from the same diamond rough which is used to produce his Signature Round diamonds. The symmetrical facet design, delivers a higher level of contrast than can be achieved with traditional facet patterns for cushion cut diamonds.

All of our Brian Gavin Signature Cushion Cut Diamonds have been graded by the AGS Laboratory with an overall cut grade of AGS Ideal-0 on the Platinum Light Performance grading platform, and are accompanied by three dimensional video which shows the sparkle effect created by the optical symmetry of the facet design.

And we provide images of each diamond as seen through an Angular Spectrum Evaluation Tool (ASET) and an Ideal Scope, so that you can see how the diamond looks through the various reflector scopes that are used by the gemological industry during our grading and evaluation process.

Thus Brian Gavin has taken the guesswork out of buying an exceptional cushion cut diamond online! To learn more about what makes our cushion cut diamonds so special, read The Science Behind the Sparkle.