“Our identity is in looking closer to the myth of diamonds. It’s different from all the others,” Canot continues. “We are not going to do the Hollywood story, because Harry Winston has it, or the jewelers of kings story, because Cartier has it. We have our own identity that we’re building on two pillars of diamond meanings—love on one side and mystery and legend on the other.”
In keeping with this spirit, each of the Valley of Diamonds designs incorporates both rough and polished diamonds, an MO shared with the firm’s Talisman collection. Launched in 2005, Talisman tapped into the stone’s purported healing and protective qualities. That contrast, and its mystical implications, is being developed into a De Beers jewelry signature—“primitive and modern,” as Canot says. In the Valley of Diamonds the Naja Naja snake ring, for example, is comprised of 13 raw diamonds interspersed among white and fancy colored pavé and baguette stones. Another serpentine piece, named Guardian of the Myth, has an uncut seven-carat diamond in the animal’s jaws, while the Mahua ring has seven polished yet rough diamond beads below a bed of pavé and pebblelike gems. The pièce de résistance, though, is the King Cobra pendant, an uncut-cut combo totaling nearly 25 carats. All the pieces are one-of-a-kind save two: rings shaped like the wings of a phoenix and a snake’s profile. “De Beers was one of the first to work with rough diamonds,” says the firm’s CEO, Guy Leymarie, explaining the point-counterpoint aesthetic. “This was relevant for us.”
For a woman in the mood for something with even more bite, Canot calls attention to the Komodo ring, shaped like a dragon’s head. “It’s the most poisonous creature of the story,” she says, popping open its mouth to reveal a hidden compartment. “You can add something very precious to you.” Such as? Canot responds with a grin and sticks to the tale she’s telling: “Perhaps a magic potion.”
