b'diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and her bloodsugar fluctuations have become a powerfulstorytelling tool in her work. Simmen grows, manipulates, and buildswith sugars crystalline structures, ranging fromdelicate sanding sugar to the striking formationsof rock candy. Crystals are grown, molded, and then cast, while waxes are shaped to form bezels around stones. She even chooses which stones to work with based on their resemblance to actual sugar, including melee lab-grown diamond baguettes, which resemble sanding sugar or sugar bricks. Laying them among actual sugar, shesays she has found they can withstand the casting process and create a sparklingaspect to her pieces.Kelsey Simmens 18-karat yellow gold Simmen also uses lab-grown rough diamonds fromSugar Brick disk ring is set with a 0.024-carat lab-grown diamond.Chatham, which mimic larger sugar crystals, like in her Sugar Brick Disk ring.Designers are now choosing to work with lab-grown diamonds not because of their value but in spite of it. Even though the stonesGreat jewelry masters take years, even decades, to create. price is falling rapidly, creators view lab-grown diamonds as anotherWhat is on their benches today is great insight into what is to innovative material to add to their repertoire.come. The future is bright and full of possibilities. NATIONAL JEWELER 75'