De Beers gathers the finest diamonds for the 1888 Master Diamonds collection:

Yellow, pink, blue, orange, violet and the traditionally colourless… At De Beers, they have diamonds of almost every single naturally existing shade. De Beers even has the rarest of them, the chameleon diamond, which I couldn’t find for one of my previous articles at either Graff or Leviev.

In honour of the maison’s 126th anniversary, these unique stones have been united for a collection which is called the 1888 Master Diamonds collection. 1888 is the year in which De Beers was founded, making it the oldest expert diamond company in the world. Investing in every part of the process, from mining to faceting to selling diamonds, the brand is considered the founder of this sparkling industry. Every ring and pendant in the Master Diamonds collection is crowned with a diamond that is endowed with exclusive characteristics: saturated with “fancy” colour hues and blessed with flawless clarity. The designers at De Beers have chosen modest frames for these jewels to ensure that the viewer’s gaze is instantly focused on the stone.

This expansive collection is split into two parts: Master Diamonds and Creative Solitaires. As if they were squeezing the central dark orange diamond in a tight embrace, the white crystals of the Caress ring are wound around the diamond in a delicate line (see below). On the ring which has a 3.01 carat Asscher cut yellow diamond, these crystals form the same double line as on the Aura rings, one of which has a deep blue radiant cut stone, the other – a dark pink emerald cut stone. It’s impossible to take your eyes off the simply designed pendant with a heart-shaped 4.40 carat pink diamond. Such is the stone’s incredible colour.

This is where the collection changes course from one where the stone dominates the design: De Beers has included rings that would be classed as “Creative Solitaires”, rings with a more refined decor which highlights the beauty of the diamonds that lie at the heart of the pieces. The Imaginary Nature ring, for example, looks like a glistening diamond “flame” with the round diamonds that line its undulating frame. The fluid contours of the flame’s tongue, decorated with glittering diamonds, twist and turn around the pear-cut diamond at the ring’s centre.

To continue with the theme of nature and the world that surrounds us, “the jeweller of light” De Beers interprets the sun’s rays and shadows they cast like the pattern of a vine twisted ornament in a gothic artwork. This was source of inspiration for the Volute ring. The Phenomena Frost Flower, as its name suggests, is a geometric drawing in the shape of flower with leaves that are covered with winter frost. As can be seen from this collection’s designs, the brand’s essential aim is to sell extraordinary stones. Indeed, only a very small number of jewellery brands can boast such an extensive collection of spectacular diamonds as De Beers.