A style of cutting a diamond (and some other transparent gemstones) that provides a large surface area with good total internal reflection while permitting economical use of the material. After acrystal has been sawn into thin parallel plates (about 1,5 mm thick), each plate is cut into any desired shape, then the top is polished and the bottom cut with a series of narrow, parallel V-shapedgrooves (if all are parallel, the appearance is a series of baguette cut stones, but it criss-crossed they appear as small step cut stones; a border is then added of variously-shaped facets.The process was invented in 1961 by Arpad Nagy, a London cutter, and was originally called the 'princess cut'.