By Dimitrios Koukoulis, founder & bench jeweler, Black Pearl of Queens
I make everything I sell at a bench in Woodside, Queens. So when I talk about a piece, I'm not describing a catalog photo — I'm describing something I held in my hands and finished myself. The Ember pendant is the one I get asked about most, so I want to walk you through how it's actually made, and why it looks the way it looks.
It started with a problem I had with bezels
A bezel — the rim of metal that wraps all the way around a stone — is the most secure way to set a diamond. No prongs to catch, nothing to bend, nothing to lose. I set almost everything that way because I'd rather a customer never think about their stone falling out. But a plain bezel can read a little flat, a little clinical. A perfect circle of gold around a stone is safe, and sometimes safe is boring.
I kept coming back to the same image: a warm diamond doesn't look like a gem to me, it looks like a coal. A live ember. And an ember is never just sitting there — it's the still point at the base of a flame that's moving. So I stopped trying to make the metal disappear around the stone and started trying to make it rise.
Carving the flame
The flame isn't cast from a mold and stamped out by the hundred. I carve it. The body of the pendant is built up in wax and gold so that the bezel — the round, protective base that holds the diamond — sits at the bottom like the hottest part of a fire, and the metal climbs from there into a tapering, bark-textured point at the top where the chain runs through.
That texture is the part that takes the time. I work grain and ridges into the surface by hand so the gold catches light unevenly, the way real flame and real bark do — bright on the high points, shadowed in the channels. A polished, even surface would look manufactured. The whole point is that it looks grown, not printed. Because each one is carved by hand, no two are identical. Yours will have its own grain.
Why the stone sits low
I set the diamond deep in the base of the flame on purpose. Two reasons. First, protection — down in the bezel, cradled by metal on every side, the stone is about as safe as a set stone can be. This is a pendant you can actually wear every day and not baby. Second, and this is the part I care about: when a warm-colored diamond is surrounded by warm gold and lit from above, it stops looking like a clear sparkly thing and starts looking lit from inside. Like the coal is the source of the flame, not just decoration sitting on top of it.
The stone is the whole decision
The Ember is built around naturally colored brown diamonds — and I offer it in two:
The Champagne Diamond Ember Pendant uses a natural champagne diamond: a soft, warm honey-gold color. It glows rather than glitters. It's the lighter, more everyday of the two.
The Cognac Diamond Ember Pendant uses a natural cognac diamond: a deeper, richer brown with red and amber in it. It's the darker ember — more dramatic, more of a statement against the skin.
Both colors occur in the diamond naturally; nothing is treated to get there. If you like the warm-diamond look, the choice between them is really just how light or how deep you want it. Some people buy one of each over time, or pair a pendant with the matching cognac bezel studs for a set.
Made to order, in three golds
I make each Ember to order in solid 14K gold — yellow, white, or rose — on a matching chain. Yellow gold leans hardest into the ember glow and is what I'd pick to show the piece off. White gold cools the flame to silver and lets a deep cognac stone lead. Rose sits warmly in between. Whichever you choose, it's carved and set after you order it, which is why it isn't sitting in a drawer waiting — it's made for you, and it carries our lifetime warranty.
That's the Ember. One stone, one flame, carved one at a time at a bench in Queens. If you have a question about a piece or want something adjusted, you can always call or text me at 929-806-1502.
Explore the pendants: Champagne Diamond Ember Pendant · Cognac Diamond Ember Pendant
