The Saul Bell Design Award and the Patent

Greg received the Saul Bell Design Award for his ring designs 2 times, in 2013 and in 2018.

This award is the most prestigious award in the jewelry design and making in the world. Over 80 countries and nearly every city in the US was represented by thousands of entries, yet only five awards are given in each category.

“Caged Fire” (2013) is a very mysterious design, with 5 diamonds which are floating in a cage made of 8 bars. It is extremely unique, passionate, and its engineering of holding the diamonds is like a magic.

The engineering of “Caged Fire” was developed further and Greg completed an even more mysterious setting in “Meteor”(2018) . The diamond is suspended inside one edge of a diamond “halo” and the bottom point of the diamond. This was, according to Greg, an attempt to use the setting he began in “Caged Fire” but simplifying it while using more organic and curved lines.

His invention added the new way of setting a diamond in the jewelry history. With this new technique, he created “Meteor”, a rather simple design yet innocent and endlessly beautiful, without disturbed by prong etc.

Greg owns the patent of this new setting method.

We named it ”KAIHO” setting, which means “ release it free” in Japanese.

Explanation of Kaiho

In all human history only eight methods of setting a gemstone in metal have ever been invented. Kaiho is the ninth method. Greg realized from a ring he designed in 2012, which won a Saul Bell Design Award in 2013) that a diamond could be held securely in place using the bottom point of the diamond and one and only one edge. This allows over 70% of the diamond to be viewed with no prongs or other fastenings.

For the next six years Greg experimented with other configurations. Some earrings, a pendant, and ring were created. Then in 2018, just after building and opening “Greg and Kanae’s Jewelry and Art” in Georgetown, Texas, Greg completed the goal in the design “Meteor”, a modern wedding set utilizing the “Kaiho” setting method.

Our Kaiho setting has been applied to several designs, from rings to pendants, as well as earrings, and various gems including emerald, garnet etc., even non-round shape stones.  The following are examples of jewelry using Kaiho:

Article from "ftb" Magazine (from the bench)

Greg and our store appeared as a cover story in the magazine “ftb”, which is a trade magazine for jewelers and the jewelry stores in US; published by Stuller Inc. the largest jewelry material and equipment company in US.

Stuller was interested in his persistence toward jewelry design/making and his innovative and flexible attitude, which probably you could feel when you step into our store Greg & Kanae’s Jewelry & Art.

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