First in Palmero, then in Taomina, I remember seeing beautifully decorated baskets from Sicilian Carretti, overflowing with fresh fruit: oranges, lemons, and grapefruits. The market sellers had sliced open some of the fruit they call 'agrumi' on their stalls in Corso Umberto. And as I walked down the street, the idea of circular slices of fruit in a basket took shape as a possible design. I made a preliminary sketch sitting on a stone step, beneath a balcony overflowing with red geraniums. The circles were of differing sizes to reflect the different fruit, and inside a golden circular outline basket: I called it Agrumi. Later, I added stones set into the circles: perhaps a ruby for a July birthday, or a peridot for August.

One of the most renowned and romantic stones of all, the diamond has a rich and sparkling history. A symbol of eternal love famed since ancient Greece, etymology denotes that the word diamond comes from the Greek 'Adamas' meaning unconquerable, and so it is, as the hardest of all gemstones.

The birthstone for April, these jewels are believed to increase energy, detoxify the body from impurities, and bring you inner courage. In shades varying from colourless, pale yellow to green, red, pink and blue, diamonds are found in lots of colours across South Africa, Australia, as well as Namibia, Russia and China. The most prized, pure diamonds are colourless and all are composed entirely of carbon.

They are graded by the 4 C's, carat weight, colour, clarity and cut. Diamonds are faceted to display a unique combination of this adamantine lustre and fire, displaying a higher degree of dispersion than any other natural colourless gemstone. A high degree of skill is required to ensure precision, proportion, and precise facet edges, as well as sharp scintillation. A popular cut is round brilliant, with 57 well-proportioned facets to show off the optical effects of brilliance and dispersion, but there are other cuts including square, pear, marquise and oval.