Carson Gray

Carson Gray — a beautiful, blonde mother of two — launched her jewelry design business last year and she is planning on success.

“I want to do something with my life,” she told me over lunch at Swifty’s. “I want my kids to see me succeed.” 

Carson Gray

The divorcee, a native New Yorker, worked at Tiffany & Co. and Cartier, but prefers being self-employed. 

“I got tired of watching other people make mistakes,” she said. 

She now lives in England, where her son and her polo-playing daughter are in school. 

Gray designs rings, earrings and necklaces in the price range of $5-to-25 thousand.

Even though women’s liberation is old hat, “I must convince women to buy without asking their husbands’ permission,” she said.

The most important thing her customers should know is that diamonds are way over-priced, and that the best lab-created, sustainable diamonds are identical.

“Jewelers can’t tell the difference,” she said. 

Customers over the age of 55 generally demand mined diamonds and won’t touch lab-grown stones. 

But many younger customers don’t want what could be “blood diamonds” mined by slave-driving exploiters. They prefer the lab-grown stones. 

Carson Gray’s Green Tourmaline Pendant ($8,000)

Gray’s a crack-shot who loves hunting stag, and she stresses the importance of culling some animals. “It’s a responsibility and I see it as such.” 

She has also hunted in Africa. “I broke my toe running away from a baboon,” she said with a laugh.

If something is easy to do, there is little joy in success, and Gray realizes the satisfaction is in the struggle. 

“Failure is not an option,” she told me. “Die trying.”