Cutting Edge
Robb Report Singapore|January/February 2023
How rough diamonds became the ne plus ultra of jewellery hunting and the ultimate status symbol for collectors and jewellery houses alike.
Paige Reddinger
Cutting Edge

In the summer of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, an Asia-based client approached De Beers with a request so detailed and idiosyncratic that even a company accustomed to bespoke commissions for a discerning clientele could quite reasonably have been stumped. "She wanted something very specific," says De Beers Jewellers CEO Céline Assimon. The client's exact wishes dictated a D-flawless diamond with a mix of personally significant, symbolic proportions and numbers (presumably for the carats and facets) as well as a guarantee of a certain type of light reflection and refraction - a boutique-bought diamond, no matter the cut, clarity or size, simply wouldn't suffice. "We did not have and would not have cut a diamond in that way for stock," says Assimon.

So De Beers unearthed a rough stone that could fulfill the requirements. The process from procuring the uncut diamond to setting the resulting finished gems in a pair of drop earrings took over a year, with the client involved at every step. As beautiful as the pieces turned out, the client acquired more than unique stones and bespoke earrings - she also scored one hell of a story. "The journey is more important, in a way, than the end product," Assimon says. "You are going to be holding it in your family forever." 

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Denne historien er fra January/February 2023-utgaven av Robb Report Singapore.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

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