Hearts and Arrows - History

History

The timeline of the evolution of Hearts and Arrows is:

  • 1977-1984 Ken Shigetomi et al. perform research to develop the FireScope.
  • Kazumi Okuda contracted by Ken Shigetomi develops a tool based upon Shigetomi's research to help examine diamond cut, this device eventually becomes the FireScope.
  • 1985 First EightStar diamond cut by Higuchi for Takanori Tamura in Tokyo after research using the Firescope. A worldwide search to find diamonds which gave a perfect result in it found almost none out of tens of thousands examined.
  • 1987 First "copy" of EightStar by Ken Shigetomi of Tokyo, called Apollon 8.

Shigetomi's company fails because of quality control problems.

  • 1988 Kinsaku Yamashita, A salesman for Apollon 8 buys the remaining Apollon 8 diamonds, develops relationships with the Apollon 8 subcontractors and renames the cuts Hearts and Arrows. Kinsaku Yamashita also patents the Heart and Arrow viewer and copyrights the words Heart and Arrow.
  • 1997 Hearts on Fire brands in the US and is the first Hearts and Arrows branded diamond to be sold in retail stores.
  • 1998 www.heartsandarrows.com debuts as then only Hearts and Arrows only website on the internet with its sole purpose of introducing these new diamonds to the American market.
  • 1999 Whiteflash Inc.. brands in the US and is the first Hearts and Arrows branded diamond (A CUT ABOVE® Diamond) to be sold exclusively on the Internet.
  • 2004 Brian Gavin presents his paper "Hearts and Arrows - How They are Formed and How They are Graded", at the First International Diamond Cut Conference (IDCC) in Moscow, Russia.

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