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Around the corner from big-box jeweler Swarovski, Dalyah Flaks offers unique diamond-studded designs in her eponymous boutique. The monochrome gray space is filled with Flaks’s own work, crafted with diamonds from her family’s conflict-free mines in South Africa. Having grown up in the family business, Flaks is well-versed in stones and is usually on hand in-store to help shoppers choose the right diamond at any price point. The shop’s windows are filled with mannequin heads clad in black-and-white polka-dotted scarves and draped in jewelry: enamel-and-diamond flower necklaces, diamonds crisscrossed over onyx rings, and a couture line of semiprecious stones set with diamonds. Though the boutique carries an array of simpler styles—classic wedding bands, engagement rings, stud earrings—Flaks specializes in funky, colored-gemstone designs that stand out from the offerings at larger chains. (Diamond-encrusted belt buckles, anyone?) She also creates chunkier rings, bracelets, and cuff links for men and accepts custom requests. — Molly Finkelstein