The Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) new cut-grading system for fancy shaped diamonds will make its industry debut in 2027, further enhancing the lab’s diamond expertise.

GIA has been developing the programme for the specialised system for years, according to Tom Moses, executive vice president and chief laboratory and research officer at GIA.

“We will start introducing the parameters in 2026 and launch it formally in 2027. As we developed the cut-grading system for round brilliants more than 20 years ago, this is going to be an analogue to that, but for fancy shapes,” revealed Moses at a De Beers-organised event, Innovation in the Diamond Value Chain: From Technology to Customer Experience, held on the sidelines of Jewellery & Gem WORLD Hong Kong 2025.

“This is an exciting opportunity to bring ideas of personalisation and customisation to retail consumers,” he added.

In a previous interview, Moses said fancy shaped diamonds have accounted for less than one-quarter of the diamonds submitted to GIA for grading over the past 10 years. The percentage increased to nearly one-third in 2022 and remained there through 2024.

GIA has recently graded more long-cushion, oval and emerald cuts. Moses noted that advances in computer-aided design have made it easier for jewellery designers to incorporate fancy shapes into their creations, leading to heightened consumer interest and demand.

“The variety of cuts and facet arrangement for different shapes makes this a very interesting challenge. We are applying advanced mathematics and machine learning to this effort,” added Moses.