Beyoncé to the Kardashians, everyone is wearing this designer’s diamonds

With her showstopping designs catching the attention of wealthy folk from Los Angeles to Mumbai, it seems American jewellery designer Lorraine Schwartz is having a moment. Most recently, she was a guest at the wedding celebrations of Anant and Radhika Ambani, who are fans of her exquisite gemstones and camera-friendly designs. Remember the bride’s rare blue opal and diamond necklace from the cruise party, and the groom’s lion brooch that was crafted from yellow diamonds and emeralds all supporting a massive, 50-carat stone at the centre? Yup, that’s Lorraine Schwartz.

Khloe Kardashian’s recent denim and diamonds themed 40th birthday look? Taylor Swift’s choker-watch hybrid at the Grammy’s? And Margot Robbie’s massive rock on her ring finger at the Critics’ Choice Awards? It was all her.

Ahead, everything you need to know about the queen of sparkle.

It’s all in the family for Schwartz, a third-generation diamond dealer. Before taking over the family business in 1989, the New Yorker briefly worked in fashion show production and considered a career in entertainment. She confessed that while studying fine arts and public relations at New York University, “I wanted to be Barbara Walters at the time. I wanted to be Oprah.” But the first piece she sold ended up being a 10-carat diamond and there was no going back from there. However, Schwartz had bigger plans than just dealing in gemstones. She said, “I started to create more unique, cool, funky, high-end jewellery. Nobody did that at the time.”

Her first celebrity client was rock star David Bowie; in 1994, he commissioned her to create an engagement ring—using a yellow, canary diamond—for his then girlfriend and model Iman.

That ‘Single Ladies’ video from 2018 featured Beyoncé breaking it down while wearing a titanium glove designed by Schwartz. The song was part of her album ‘I am… Sasha Fierce’ and her brief to Schwartz was to create something, “superhero”-like. The two have been longtime collaborators—ever since the Grammys in 2004. They even started a fund for young black designers, called The Beyoncé Knowles-Carter x Lorraine Schwartz GIA Scholarship.

The gemstone that defined Schwartz’s career would be emeralds. At the 2009 Oscars, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made their first public appearance as a couple. For that paparazzi moment, Jolie paired green with black, wearing a sculptural Elie Saab gown with her Schwartz emerald drops. Next, in 2013, Beyonce performed ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at former US president Obama’s inauguration in a Pucci sheath and a set of showstopping emerald earrings. Until then, people had largely worn emeralds and diamonds together but the designer said she liked how, “There are emeralds that are brighter and more open than others, and when you wear them on their own at night they look like green diamonds.”

Gobstopper-sized engagement rings have become the designer’s signature. She’s designed two of Kim Kardashian’s rings—the first from basketball player Kris Humphries and the second, a 15-carat cushion-cut diamond from Kanye West. The latter was designed to look like it was, “floating on air” and was memorably stolen in 2016 during an armed robbery while the reality TV star was in Paris for fashion week. Schwartz has also designed engagement rings for Blake Lively (a light pink oval diamond), Kourtney Kardashian (an oval diamond), and Beyoncé (an emerald-cut, 24 carat diamond).