Ulrich Freiesleben is a diamond designer and dealer - and the only German at the Antwerp diamond exchange. Early in his career, he realised that the diamond trade is a slow-moving business. He worked as a dealer for over 20 years before deciding it was time to take some risks, and set about finding new ways of cutting diamonds. He no longer gets his rough diamonds cut in Asia but at a factory in North Rhine-Westphalia. Staff are specially trained, because Freiesleben’s diamonds are one-off pieces that come at a very high price. Report by Bettina Thoma.