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Talitha Cummins has diamonds in her blood. A former broadcast journalist at Weekend Sunrise and Seven News, she teamed with her uncle Craig Blizzard, a jewellery industry veteran, and her cousin Kara Blizzard to launch The Cut Jewellery in 2023.
Specialising in lab-grown diamonds, The Cut “creates exceptional pieces with a focus on craftsmanship and very high quality service,” Cummins told Azzet.
Lab-grown diamonds shine
Lab-grown diamonds’ market share has surged in recent years. The sector now accounts for around 20% of the US$89 billion global jewellery market — up from close to 0% a decade ago.
According to Cummins, consumers have grown more accepting of lab-grown diamonds as they’ve learned more about the product. “It’s not a fake, it's not an imitation,” she says. “It is in fact carbon, chemically and physically the same as a diamond that comes from the earth.”
With that cultural acceptance, she says, “more people are buying them, more people are seeing them in the market and out on the street.”
Lab-grown diamonds can be made in just 150 minutes, and are typically more affordable than their natural counterparts.
Larger companies have now begun moving into the lab-grown sector, with Swarovski launching a lab-grown diamond collection in Australia in July. Lab-grown diamonds “will play a significant role in the future of the diamonds category,” Swarovski CEO Alexis Nasard said at the time.
“I think it’s positive,” Cummins says, to see major players entering the lab-grown market. “Each company will offer different things.”
Building a Cut above the rest
“To this date, we've done no paid marketing,” Cummins says. “We've been able to have quite significant growth without that, using organic social media.” The Cut releases new videos on platforms like Instagram every day, educating customers on lab-grown diamonds as well as introducing them to the brand.
Instagram is now The Cut’s biggest driver for appointments and sales, according to Cummins. “Whenever I speak with someone or a client comes in, I say, how did you find us? And they say, through your social media page.”
Around 30% of Australian independent jewellery sellers do not have a website, Jeweller found in its 2024 State of the Industry report.
Cummins’ former life as a broadcast journalist has helped her communicate and build the brand through social media. “Everything is very carefully considered just like it is when you're putting something to air,” she says, as incorrect information can easily spread online.
“As a newsreader, the ability to communicate information in a concise way has just been so helpful.”
The Cut also provides a high-end personal experience in its face-to-face consultations, held in its Paddington, Sydney showroom. “The couple will come in, sit together, we'll discuss what they want. It's a really lovely environment and experience for them,” Cummins says.
Learning and (lab-)growing
As the business has grown, The Cut has begun to take orders from clients overseas. This year, The Cut has sold jewellery to customers from the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and New Zealand, as well as Australia.
While the international attention has been a welcome growth driver, the customs and shipping processes have been a challenge. “Customs has been a big, steep learning curve for us,” Cummins says, particularly as each country’s system is different. “We've had pieces held up in customs for days or weeks at a time.”
Both lab-grown and natural diamonds have declined in price this year, a difficulty for jewellers. Lab-grown diamond profits in the U.S. shrunk by 5% year-over-year in the first half of 2024, according to a report by Tenoris.
Cummins credits her uncle, Craig Blizzard, with guiding the business past its challenges. “I've done all of my study with the [Gemological Institute of America], but I've learned everything from my uncle. Nothing beats 50-odd years experience in the industry.”
The Cut looks forward
“We've spent the last year in proof of concept mode,” Cummins says. Now that The Cut is growing, the startup aims to expand its showroom experience into Melbourne and potentially Brisbane in 2025.
The Cut has been embarking on trunk shows around Australia, with its most recent in Brisbane, as an opportunity to showcase its jewellery to audiences and build brand awareness.
Although lab-grown diamonds will remain The Cut’s focus, the brand will also offer natural diamonds. “While the natural diamond market seems to be shrinking, I think there'll always be a space for that,” Cummins says. “We need to listen to the consumer and what they want.”
For the Australian jewellery industry next year, “it’s going to become less about the diamonds and more about what jewellers or designers are doing with them”, she says. “The projection is that in the U.S., 50% of engagement rings will have a lab diamond centre stone by the end of this year.” 46% of all engagement ring centre stones in the U.S. were lab-grown in 2023, according to a survey by The Knot.
“It's a time of acceptance now, and understanding that there are options for people.”
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