‘Hearts on Fire’ was founded by Glenn and Susan Rothman in 1996. Glenn had always been an entrepreneur at heart, and when he realized that the diamond industry (namely diamond engagement rings), could also be leveraged into a lucrative business model, he set his sights on learning the diamond trade.
It was in Antwerp, Belgium in 1996 that Glenn and his wife met with renowned Belgian diamond cutter, Van Blerk. At the time Van was working on a new kind of diamond cut for the Japanese market. Eager to show the American’s his new cut creation, Van Blerk set a diamond in a proportion scope and showed the Rothman’s the now infamous eight arrows and hearts. It was at this moment that an idea was born within Glenn and they soon set about patenting the Hearts on Fire cut. In fact, the ultimate secret to Hearts on Fire’s success can be whittled down to one key thing: Brand Awareness.
Rothman was an entrepreneur at heart and leveraged his early business knowledge to his advantage. He knew that if he wanted to get anywhere within the diamond industry, he needed to offer something different to the average diamond consumer. Acting on the fact that most people are timid and a little insecure when it comes to buying diamonds, he offered each of his Hearts on Fire diamonds with a laser inscribed brand name and serial number on each diamond’s girdle. Additionally, each stone would be accompanied by a certificate from the American Gem Society (AGS) certifying the highest cut grade. In this way, all Hearts on Fire diamonds come with the coveted ideal zero cut grade, further ensuring security and confidence in the average diamond buyer’s mind.
Rothman’s business sense paid off. Since 1997 the Hearts on Fire brand continues to grow and innovate itself. Consumer’s are so convinced that Hearts on Fire is the absolute best diamond that they are willing to pay as much as $12,000 or more per carat! But the question remains…are Hearts on Fire the world’s most perfectly cut diamonds? Do they make the most beautiful engagement rings?
Hearts on Fire diamonds are indeed very beautiful diamonds. However, so is William Goldberg’s Ashoka diamond, Tiffany’s Lucida diamond, and Lazare Kaplan’s famous Lazare diamond. All of these diamonds are beautiful and all of these diamond’s are obscenely overpriced.
But, thankfully times are changing and other diamond vendors have recognized the growing importance of quality in diamond purchases. Many are jumping on the Brand bandwagon too. For example, James Allen’s True Hearts diamonds are priced far more economically than Hearts on Fire or Tiffany’s Lucida.
However, anyway you look at it, the truth of the matter is that all of these diamonds are ideally cut and show the hearts and arrows visual effect when viewed with a proportion scope. The only difference is that each vender is now touting their own diamond cut as their own BRAND.
