The Cutting Wheel
The Cutting Wheel documents the quiet transformation of Himalayan stones — from uncirculated rough to refined legacy pieces. This page holds process footage, lapidary notes, and visual records from the hands of master cutters entrusted with the archive.
Not every piece shown here is final. Some are still in formation, others preserved mid-stage as part of the archive’s development. This is not a commercial gallery — it is a record of intent, orientation, and origin.
A rare documentation of a high-altitude Himalayan sapphire brought from rough to record. This footage follows the transformation of The Vale Empress — faceted by British master lapidary Ken Harrington from 29.11 carats of Kashmir-region rough into a 10.82 carat pear.
Filmed across the key stages of grinding, shaping, and polishing, the video captures the deliberate refinement of silk-bearing, deeply saturated material into a sapphire now held quietly in archive.
A sapphire of quiet discipline and enduring form, Shāh-nāmeh was cut from Himalayan-region rough and entrusted to British master lapidary Ken Harrington. Her step-cut structure is rare among Kashmir sapphires — designed not for brilliance, but for architecture, symmetry, and saturation.
At 6.24 carats, she holds the concentration and presence of a larger stone. Named after the Book of Kings, she is both restraint and legacy.
Combined studio footage: rubies, emeralds, and sapphires in process under the hand of Ken Harrington.