Child's Play

How did a boy growing up by the ocean in Copacabana find his calling in diamonds?

- Herve Dewintre And Kenny Loh

 

Some people say that one’s journey in life sometimes takes the least expected path. Andrew Coxon, President of De Beers Institute of Diamonds, cannot agree more. “My father was a diplomat in Rio de Janeiro and our family stayed together in sunny Copacabana. Life was good,” he reminisces. But there was a funny catch. “My mother loved jewellery and our house was close to a tiny but charming jewellery store owned by a Russian man. That made my father very nervous indeed. He told me, ‘You are to follow your mother whenever she steps into that store and you shall see to it that she does not go crazy.’”