An Interview With The Mad Scientist of Moissanite

An Interview With The Mad Scientist of Moissanite

THE MAN BEHIND THE MOISSANITE

Ring Mandrel NEO

We recently sat down with Guy Stimpson, the brand and trademark owner of the NEO Moissanite, to learn more about him and his delicious gems.

J Hollywood Designs has been selling the NEO since it was first rolled out in the fall of 2015, and prior to that Guy and his team were our primary source for Charles & Colvard moissanite for several years, so we were one of the first jewelers to find out about the NEO coming onto the scene. “I’ve been at this since I was 22,” Guy said. “I’ve been waiting for the patent to end for many years.” His goal is to create a “new standard” in the moissanite business. He's already turned moissanite warranties on their head - the Moissanite NEO warranty is the most comprehensive warranty available on the market today - not only does it cover clouding and color changes in your stone, it covers chipping and scratches. Yup, good stuff right there.

Guy was born in Peterborough, England, and moved with his family to the U.S. when he was 14 years old. He traveled back to England to attend the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, England and studied Economics. He later returned to the U.S. and became one of the first salespeople for Charles & Colvard at the ripe young age of 21. He then went on to become their top European sales rep. #BadAss After 3 years traveling the globe teaching precious and semi-precious gemstone dealers, gem-cutting houses, chain and independent retail jewelers about moissanite; Guy was, and still is considered one of the top moissanite experts in the world. #MajorGemNerd

"We have been working on the process for a more beautiful whiter colored moissanite for a long time now. After many trials and with a unique; hyper-extensive cut, color and clarity quality control system (good grief that's a mouthful), we have conclusively proven that the NEO is the best option for 'true colorless' moissanite worldwide."

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE NEO

"The NEO Moissanite; like the Forever One by Charles & Colvard, is a 4H (SiC) crystalline structure, it is the whitest raw silicon carbide poly-type, allowing for true D, E, F, G & H colorless moissanite production. The NEO has been sectioned into two categories, True G-H (near colorless) and True E-F (colorless)."

(Mm-kay, did ya'll get that? Yikes. #MoissaniteNerd)

Guy told us during our chat, "One of the most fascinating aspects of the NEO 4H (SiC) poly-type is that it can be graded using the diamond grading scale. Never before has this been possible with moissanite, as prior to the patent expiration 6H (SiC) poly-types like the Forever Classic and Forever Brilliant were saturated with green and yellow color hues."

"The 4H NEO Moissanite will not change color under heat. The 6H Moissanite by Charles & Colvard will turn a bright yellow upon heating."

(So you know now I'm going to get out my biggest torch and light one of those suckers up.)

"With the NEO, we have gone a step further than all of our competition by creating a line of True G-H Color NEO moissanite at a lower cost-per-carat than the Forever One moissanite (G-H color), Forever Brilliant moissanite (J-K color) or the Classic moissanite (L-M color)."

"And, unlike our competition, we do not use confusing cost-per-carat sliding scale pricing model."

THE SECRET REVEALED

Moissanite Preforms (Rough)Shhhhhh...Guy went on to share a secret with us about the NEO and how they are created...

"The NEO starts out as a seed crystal suspended inside a vacuum sealed chamber. Intense heat and high pressure is applied. Within 3-12 weeks the raw crystal is fully grown; cylindrical in shape, 3-4 inches in diameter and 5-6 inches from top to bottom. (This crystal is called a boule, and looks like a funky tall hockey puck.) Once removed from the reactor the raw crystal is turned on its side and laser cut into wafers, and then laser cut again into preforms*. Once all of the preforms are completed, they are sent to the cutting house where they are faceted then polished.

"The last step prior to going through our hyper extensive in-house quality control, is a special and vital annealing process. This process repairs any broken bonds from the raw crystal growth and creates the whitest possible finished product." 

Isn't it wild that these crazy lookin' triangles end up as gorgeous gemstones? 

 

So my loves, there ya go. In our opinion, the NEO Moissanite is a no-brainer. Their outstanding cuts were developed by Guy, our #MoissaniteMan - with his expansive moissanite knowledge, their competitive pricing, that ridiculous warranty - AND our gorgeous designs, you can't possibly shop anywhere else. 

We will also price match, or try damn hard to, so as always, you can reach us via email or pop by our Etsy shop with any questions, feedback or just to tell us you are girl crushing on us. *grin* (I've heard that twice in the last week!)

Guy and JenWe FINALLY nabbed a photo of the elusive Guy. I was hoping for a shot of him at his desk, louping stones, with NEO moissanite spilling everywhere, but this will have to do. In June 2017, my staff and I were all in Las Vegas for the JCK Vegas gem show, and we met up with some of our vendors, including Guy and his right hand man, Steve. Pic is fuzzy since it may or may not have been taken in a nightclub. 😉 

 

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