Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 12 on 19/1/2004.

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Add a sparkle to your life

Scotland is famed for its exquisite jewellery. Kate Patrick picks out some gems

Face it, girls, there’s nothing like the thrill of a new diamond – except, possibly, when it’s set in platinum in a ring, ear-ring or pendant.

Fifth Avenue, Bond Street, Place Vendome and Via Montenapoleone have a lot to answer for, although it’s not as if we can escape the seductive lure of precious gem and metal in Scotland.

For those of us living here, there’s plenty from Scottish jewellers – both made in Scotland and judiciously imported – to set our pulses racing.

The Laing brothers, Stuart and Michael, who are custodians of the family firm of Laing the Jeweller which has been in business since 1840, are diamond-buying experts who regularly travel to Antwerp to pick up these and other coloured sparklers.

The majority of finished pieces in their Edinburgh and Glasgow (and also Cardiff and Southampton) shops are designed and manufactured at their own workrooms in Scotland, but they also sell luxury branded jewellery from the likes of Bulgari, Chaumet, Cartier, Chopard and Gucci.

Trends, they say, are currently towards substantial right-hand rings, and to that end they are featuring the glorious ‘hearts on fire’ diamond: the world’s most perfectly cut, sparkling, round specimen.

It is already 100 million years old, so it’ll be good for a few anniversaries to come.

Fellow Edinburgh jeweller Hamilton & Inches is a shop worth visiting if only to admire the architecture of the interior.

With ornate plaster ceilings and Corinthian columns dating from 1835, it’s a stupend.....

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By Kate Patrick

Section : Scottish Shopping

Page number : 54