“A Diamond is Forever is leaning into a new wave of colored diamonds, nicknamed desert diamonds for their sandy, warm hues.”
Ciara
BY LEE HAYMAN
On the top floor of The Shed in Hudson Yards, above the frenzy of the Frieze art festival’s return to the city, lies a world glittering with diamonds. Hosted by De Beers and welcoming glamorous guests such as Ciara, Sharon Stone and Julia Fox, “A Diamond Is Forever” unveils their latest project highlighting the miraculous cosmic journey these gems take before ending up in some of the most beautiful jewelry on earth.
De Beers tapped artists from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, the UK and France for the installation, an immersive audio and visual experience exploring the mythical and cosmic origins of diamonds. We’re ushered through the space by custom trench coat wearing attendants, made in collaboration with artists for the installation with textiles and motifs playing on the theme. Handed headphones, we journey to a hidden room behind the cocktail reception where a thirty-foot couch has been set up with two projectors, displaying a short film on loop. Trippy graphics, curated overlapping drum beats and kaleidoscope imagery take us through layers of earth and space, reflecting on the magnitude of conditions required to create the gems. The visuals, reminiscent of being on some really great mushrooms, and the scintillating effect of repetitive beats and multigenerational voices let you slip away, fully immersed.
“You can’t buy history, or own a gem made of cosmic star dust that has been here long before, through a lab grown diamond.”
Note Marcato and Swizz BeatzAnthony Cenname and Sharon Stone
“A Diamond is Forever” is leaning into a new wave of colored diamonds, nicknamed desert diamonds for their sandy, warm hues. Shades ranging from “sunlit white” to “whiskey” desert diamonds are known for their unique coloring and one of a kind hue, highlighting that each stone is as inimitable as its wearer.
Diamonds are one of Earth’s rarest treasures, and humans have been mesmerized by them for millenia. Through the installation, they are seen as symbols of eternal love, commitment and strength. Uniquely one of the only samples geologists have to study the Earth’s crust, they provide a billion years of insight in one gem. One thing I take away is the clear case “A Diamond is Forever” is making against the lab grown diamond industry. You can’t buy history, or own a gem made of cosmic star dust that has been here long before, through a lab grown diamond. Although compositionally and chemically the same, the strong lean into history and the mythical origins of diamonds work well in De Beers favor.
Ushered to dinner at Markette, Sharon Stone speaks warmly of friend Sally Morrison, Natural Diamond Market Lead for De Beers. Ciara glitters in a stunner of a necklace and the NYC based jeweler behind the engagement ring seen round the globe, Taylor Swift’s of course, chats with friends next to her. Champagne flows as smoothly as the continued visual installation by Nasir Dean. A glittering zebra adorns the wall of the downstairs lounge, a tribute to the culture of Botswana, Dean says, while diamond cosmic swirls dance on the ceiling. Jewelry is a vehicle for storytelling, and diamonds reign most sentimental amongst the stones. The evening reframes what goes into creating and cultivating these distinctive stones, and just how many communities and lives are touched by the journey.
Julia Fox and Lynn SerfatyGeorge Inaki RootMaxwell Osborne and Karla JorbaNote Marcato
