Flawed & fabulous

THE star piece at this year's Singapore Jewelfest, the jewellery exhibition held at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza from Oct 11-20, may be a US$55 million (S$69 million) necklace featuring a 400-carat internally flawless diamond, but for everyone else not on the Forbes List, there are covetable-yet-affordable designs that break the rules of conventional jewellery value.

This year, forget about the all-important tenets of jewellery shopping at the event: Carat weight, colour, cut and clarity. The most unique creations are formed from less glamorous-sounding gems such as agate, brown diamonds, spinels and sphenes, many of which are ridden with inclusions.

"As a designer who values uniqueness, I am always on the look-out for gems that are either not commonly used or are unconventional in shape or colour," says Thai jewellery designer Nuttapon Yongkiettakul of Kavant Jewelry, who has a penchant for sliced diamonds, agate and tourmaline.