Christopher Slowinski is founder, president, and master jewelry designer for Christopher Designs, established in 1981 in New York. Born in Poland where his family owned a flower plantation, Christopher became inspired by oil paintings and influenced by advertising campaigns for jewelry that included nature and vibrant colors.
Christopher studied as a jewelry apprentice while attending a technical college. He apprenticed under master jewelry craftsmen in Poland, and then under others when he moved to New York City in 1976. He started his career as a stone setter and after two years worked with a friend to start a stone setting company.
Pursuing perfection leads to patented techniques and designs
Christopher’s never-ending pursuit of perfection had him mingling his creative side with this technical training and mathematics to find gemstone and jewelry design solutions.
When asked by a popular jeweler’s creative director what he could do other than setting stones, Christopher replied that he could do anything. He was invited to design a ring with an invisible setting, which at the time was only done by hand. Christopher quickly realized he’d never be able to create a setting that could be consistent from ring to ring.
His received his first U.S. patent for his machine-cut method to create invisible settings using jewelry machinery. His innovative approach enabled precision and continuity and prevented waste from mis-cut stones.
He built a reputation for his unique, invisibly set jewelry but then the market became flooded with invisibly set princess-cut jewelry and so he looked for something uniquely new.
His second U.S. patent is for machine-set closed-end channel anniversary or wedding bands.
Cutting diamonds and building a brand for getting more bling for your buck
Christopher continued to focus on combining his classic jewelry training with innovative technology advances, and he turned his focus on enhancing the aesthetic value of something already established as beautiful – the diamond – and making it even more so.
Christopher’s third U.S. patent is for the Crisscut® stone, which came about when he made an unintended cut while faceting a diamond for a new invisible setting technique. He noticed the brighter sparkle to the stone after the accidental cut, and after two years of trial and error, he obtained the patent for his technique that crisscrosses the facets in emerald-shaped diamonds and gives them their superior beauty.
While emerald cut stones have forty-four facets, the Crisscut® technique delivers seventy-seven, truly redefining how multifaceted and brilliant a diamond can be. Christopher has always had a passion for the long emerald diamond because of the long measurement which enables him to create a lot of detail. His Crisscut® Emerald diamond ring design won several awards, including the 2007 Best Bridal Design, out of 15,000 pieces submitted.
The Crisscut® Round came out in 2008 and has 121 facets, twelve walls, and twelve sides, to give the illusion of delicate scalloped borders, and amazing brilliance.
The Crisscut® Cushion uses cushion-shaped diamonds and utilizes seventy-seven facets. It inspired Christopher's Cushion Collection.
The L’Amour Crisscut® diamond debuted in 2014 and is known for its beauty and simplicity. It features fifty facets and two straight sides that have subtle top and bottom curvatures to create a luminous mirrored reflection that brightens the diamond, so it looks 40 to 50 percent larger than comparable emerald-cut diamonds. When placed side by side with a standard stone, the difference is truly clear.
The Brilliant Crisscut® embraces remarkable engineering making it appear round with 109 facets, twelve straight walls, and twelve sides which create an exquisite illusion of a perfectly crafted scalloped border.
The 4C’s of diamonds is changing to the 3C’s
Everyone is familiar with the 4C’s when diamond shopping – color, clarity, cut, and carat weight, Christopher Designs is getting known for 3S’s: sparkle, shape, and size!
Christopher continues to successfully combine classic old-world luxury jewelry training with modern technology to create customized pieces to suit personal styles. He loves transforming ideas into exclusive pieces that express individuality while incorporating classic beauty with a contemporary look.
Christopher Designs uses only the most impeccable diamonds, and other precious stones, set on platinum, white gold, or yellow gold.
Come in and see some Christopher Designs jewelry
Christopher Designs is highly respected for innovation, cost-efficient solutions, and faultless craftsmanship for earrings, rings, Memory Cuff bracelets, necklaces, and more.
Stop in to Gary J. Long Jewelers to see some original Christopher Designs pieces for yourself. We look forward to helping you select a beautiful piece for your special someone!
