HB Antwerp to design 549-carat diamond for Louis Vuitton
HB Antwerp has announced it will design and polish a 549-carat diamond for French fashion house Louis Vuitton.
This will be the diamond-focused technology company’s second collaboration with the luxury good retailer.
The diamond in question was found on 1 February in the Karowe mine in Botswana by Canadian diamond producer, Lucara Diamond Company.
Margaux Donckier, communications and external affairs director for HB Antwerp, said: “Diamonds have been traded in the same way for years. Diamond producers mine the rough diamonds, after which diamond dealers buy them, have them manufactured and sell them to jewelers.
“As a result, consumers almost never get the chance to see a rough diamond. A missed opportunity, because rough diamonds are of the most beautiful and exceptional products of nature, formed more than a billion years ago, deep below the surface of the earth.”
She added: “Today, consumers expect transparency and sustainability. They are aware of the origin of products, under what conditions products were manufactured and how often they were flown around the world before arriving at their destination.
“Thanks to the closed circle system of HB Antwerp, with every stage of the process carried out in Antwerp and backing it with the latest technologies, consumers will get a very clear and transparent answer to all these questions, while keeping the carbon footprint to an absolute minimum.”