diamond art

Commission A Portrait in Gems

Filed under: Art

To be filed under bling with a capital B or even lite-brite gone luxe; Gemstone Creative has come up with a concept to provide bespoke mosaic artwork to those who have cash to burn.

To be fair, the art of making mosaics has been around for centuries and has always had a tradition of patron sponsorship. Taking their inspiration from the Moors, the Mughai Emperors and the powerful Byzantines, whose completed mosaics often contained precious stones and gold leaf, Gemstone Creative's bejeweled mosaic concept does not seem quite so outlandish. The roots of the idea can be found in historic practices around the globe.

The London based company is the brainchild of Mark Hirschel and Sarah Stultman who have assembled talented individuals in the fields of mosaic art and jewelry setting to be able to bring this unique concept to the marketplace. The artists including, Adrian Firth, Tessa Hunkin and Claire Milner are classically trained, have their art in private collections and in international shows such as the London Art Fair. The pieces can be fashioned from diamonds of various colors, rubies, emeralds, sapphires as well as a selection of semi-precious stones such as peridot, and amethysts. They make a promise to consumers to use only ethically sourced stones in their mosaics. For the most part, if you can dream it up the artists can make it happen, although the company does need to be able to acquire the correct volume of stones for your piece.

So how much does all of this cost? Well it does depend on the size of the piece, as well as the market price of the stones and setting you choose. As an example, an 8inch x 8inch piece will contain at least 2,600 stones while a larger piece measuring 24inch x 24inch would contain over 22,000 individual stones. As an estimate one can figure on the smaller portraits starting at £25,000 and easily surpassing the £1 million mark if a piece is made entirely of diamonds and set in platinum. It is no wonder the company states in its press release that the portraits are the "ultimate luxury possession".

If your pockets aren't as deep and you like the concept they will also make pieces out of Swarovski Crystals that start at a much more reasonable £2,750.

Gallery: Gemstone Creative