DeBeers’ Most Important Diamonds Come with a Background Check
DeBeers has been producing some of the world’s most magnificent diamonds for over a century, and now those stones have even more meaning. The house recently unveiled a collection of its top-quality diamonds, each with a provenance that identifies its journey from the mine to when it was set in the finished jewel. More than that, the documentation also shows the transformation of the stone from a rough rock to a radiant diamond and outlines the positive social and environmental impact each rock had on the local communities from where it came. That certainly makes a diamond sparkle even more.
The journey of a diamond touches so many lives—from mining communities in remote regions of Africa and the Canadian Arctic, to the artisan cutters who shape each stone and the workshops of jewelers who set them. Now all that information is available through Tracr, an innovative technological platform developed by DeBeers to tell the story of every diamond.
The new collection of 39 magnificent diamonds, which range in size from 5 carats to over 26 carats, was revealed last week at a cocktail party at DeBeers’ Madison Avenue boutique, which celebrated the brand’s ongoing partnership with the New York Botanical Garden and its support of the garden’s annual Winter Wonderland Ball, which will be held on December 10. Guests including Olivia Palermo, Georgina Bloomberg, Sophie Elgort, and Gillian Hearst were on hand to see the house’s latest high jewelry collection, Reflections of Nature, and experience the journey of its diamonds.
The stand-out jewels included a ring set with a 15-carat D flawless emerald cut diamond that was so clear it appeared like a pool of water. A DeBeers executive revealed the story of the stone on an iPad, showing images and videos of the original rough diamond, which was uncovered in the Jwaneng mine in Botswana, as it is transformed into a polished finished jewel. The collection is part of the company’s Building Forever initiative, which is focused on ensuring that all the diamonds it discovers create a lasting positive impact for the communities in which they are found.
The house’s Reflections of Nature collection pays homage to the natural surroundings in which the diamonds are unearthed. For example, the Ellesmere Treasure Ring was inspired by the pristine wilderness of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, the source of some of the world’s top-quality diamonds. It features a rare 1.53-carat fancy vivid blue cushion-cut diamond surrounded by delicate diamond arcs.
Similarly, the Okavango Grace Ring was designed to evoke the spirit of the lush plains of the Delta in Botswana, one of the main sources of DeBeers’ diamonds. The focus of the ring is an unusual 1.01-carat fancy dark grayish green diamond surrounded by round brilliant white diamonds and bezel-set rough green and pink diamonds.
The new designs portray diamonds in a new light that conveys a more organic style– and with a provenance that appeals to everyone’s sensibility.
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