Victoria Secret’s lingerie model, Adriana Lima, was seen walking down the runway wearing a $2 million dollar bra in New York City this month as part of the Victoria Secret’s “Christmas Dreams and Fantasies” collection. The $2 million dollar “Bombshell Fantasy Bra” was designed by Damiani exclusively for Victoria Secret’s. The 18k white gold bra contains: 3,000 brilliant cut loose diamonds, light blue sapphires and oval shaped topazes.
This bra boasts 60 carats of diamonds and 82 carats of sapphires and topazes respectively. The swirling stars and constellation design was Damiani’s inspiration behind the bra. Damiani along with six others spent 1500 hours setting the diamonds in the bra by hand. The bra is featured in the 2010 Victoria’s Secret Christmas Dreams and Fantasies Catalogue along with the limited-edition “Miraculous Push-up Bra” and matching “V-string”, which contains pink Swarovski crystals for a whopping $250.
Canada is set to open its first official diamond trading marketplace in downtown Toronto, a move spurred by the rush in recent years to mine and market the homegrown stones both nationally and worldwide.
The Diamond Bourse of Canada opens Monday and will be the first forum of its kind in the country where both polished and rough stones will be bought and sold.
There are 28 diamond bourses in places such as Belgium, Israel and South Africa. The Canadian bourse will become the 29th on the international circuit, which is overseen by the World Federation of Diamond Bourses. Canada produces about 15 per cent of the world’s annual rough diamonds.
“It’s only logical for Canada to establish a full-fledged bourse,” federation president Avi Paz stated yesterday. “While Canada’s population is small compared to its huge southern neighbour, the country’s jewelry industry and trade, as well as its consumer market, have been growing steadily.”
Carlos Defex is the newest member of the Brilliance team, bringing with him a lifetime of knowledge and passion for jewelry. As the head of our custom jewelry department, Carlos will be working tirelesly to bring his own style and experience to Brilliance jewelry. The Brilliance Blog took some time to sit down with Carlos so that you could get to know him better.
Brilliance Blog: How long have you been in the jewelry business?
Carlos Defex: I started in the jewelry business nearly 15 years ago when I received a bachelor’s degree in Metals and Fine Jewelry with specialization in Jewelry Design. The passion that I have for jewelry has taken me to different cities around the world, where I‘ve been exposed to different life styles and customs. I believe that my experiences shows in the caliber of jewelry that I design.
BB: What made you decide to go into jewelry?
CD: What I love about jewelry is the transformation of rare materials that are found deep beneath the earth through millions of years of evolution. To be able to transform those materials and give them an expression related to love and passion. I believe that jewelry is the perfect blend between science, art and nature.
BB: People obviously enjoy jewelry for the beauty and style, and you can tell a lot about a person by the kind of jewelry they are wearing. What can you say about different cultures and their jewelry?
CD: Jewelry has played an important role throughout the history of human kind, and has been a channel to communicate emotions, status, power, and beliefs. We can see it from the first Homo sapiens in Africa, barbarian tribes like the Celts, Mayans in Central America, or the Andean cultures in South America that created beautiful pieces of jewelry. India has probably the longest tradition of jewelry making and trading, dating back as far as the people of the Indus Valley Civilization more than 1,500 BC; also they were the first country that mined diamonds. As we can see, jewelry has been linked with the development of different cultures throughout the history and will be part of more generations to come.
BB: What do you find special about Brilliance, and what do you hope to add?
CD: Our jewelry is versatile, stylish, and at the same time shows a sense of tradition. It is made for the versatile woman that goes to work, takes care of the family, drives her kids to soccer games, and goes to a dinner party or cocktail at night; our jewelry is made to wear at any occasion. I believe that jewelry needs to be fun, enjoyable, accessible, and at the same time rare or unique.
BB: So we’ve heard about your passion for jewelry. Do you have anything to say about diamonds and other precious gems.
CD: I frequently hear from people, “it is only a rock”. And they might be right. But it is not just any rock…it is “The Rock”, whether we are referring to a loose diamond, emerald, ruby, sapphire… these precious gems contain thousands of years of history, culture, and chemical and physical changes occurring deep within the earth. These are rare materials that symbolize a tradition, a special moment for the individual and the collective. Matched with the right jewelry, a precious stone can say who you are without words, a sensual piece of distinctiveness and self expression.
As the 50th anniversary marking Harry Winston’s donation of the legendary 45-carat Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Museum passes, the designers at Harry Winston have undertaken the challenge to design a new setting for the famous blue loose diamond. The goal was to create a piece that reflected the spirit of the American people. Three designs have been selected from dozens of sketches, and the winning design will be announced on September 23rd.
Watch a behind-the-scenes video below about the collaboration between the Smithsonian Museums and the Harry Winston designers who created the selected designs for one of the most famous diamonds.
GENEVA (Reuters) – A flawless vivid blue diamond weighing 7.03 carats sold Tuesday for a record 10.5 million Swiss francs ($9.49 million), the highest price paid per carat for any gemstone at auction, Sotheby’s said.
The rectangular-shaped blue stone, the rarest to enter the international market this year, went to an anonymous buyer bidding by telephone after hectic bidding see-sawed between two callers for 15 minutes.
It was the centrepiece of its semi-annual sale in Geneva, conducted by David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry department in Europe and the Middle East, who said the results showed the market’s resilience despite the economic downturn.
“This is already a new world record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond and a new world record per carat for any gemstone (at auction),” Bennett told reporters. See full article at reuters.com…
Thirty nine round cut diamonds are pave set in this white gold diamond engagement ring setting, accenting your choice of center diamond. 3/8 carat total diamond weight.
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