DE BEERS, the home of diamonds since 1888, that has created wondrous jewels with peerlessly beautiful diamonds to celebrate all of life’s events. Over 130 years of diamond mastery go into creating each individual design. De Beers diamonds are well known of being the meticulously hand-selects the world’s finest diamonds for their unique cuts, purity and brilliance.

Recently De Beers opened their first flagship store, in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, at the prestigious Centeria Mall. François Delage, CEO De Beers Diamond Jewelers who was on a business tour to check the region’s latest boutique openings, spoke to Saudi Gazette about the opening of the first flagship boutique, choosing.

“We have been looking into the market since already many years ago, but we wanted to open when we saw that we were ready for the market. İn regards to ways when we had a good understanding of the Saudi clients and also that we have to find the right partner and so that was very important for us we consider that we had found the right partner. It was the right moment for us to open in this beautiful location. For years we have been serving our Saudi client in other retail stores or other De Beers stores in the world.”

Then he added: “When it comes to diamonds we found out that our Saudi clients are so very knowledgeable. And since we take pride to name our selves the home of diamonds since the year 1898 and I believe this is the thing the resonate with our Saudi clients We wanted to offer our clients in Riyadh our full and complete products display in this very exquiste mall.”

When asked about the market competition in the market of diamonds in Saudi Arabia, Delage answered: “You are right there is competition but we we like competition, and as our brand and our creations really stands out a position I think is a run really stands out on our diamond on our creations stands out the response to ourboutique opening has stand out since we have opened few weeks ago.”

About the best advises for the ladies to choose the right diamond, Delage said, “Our advice is always simple, you should never choose a diamond on paper but you should choose diamonds with your eyes. What I mean by that is that two diamonds may look the same on paper and may also have the same grading reports, but they may not have the same quality. And if we where making with what I call it ‘twin test’, it depends on the quality of the cut. You would compare the two, one would be flat and the other one would be an absolute firework. Why?! Because it all goes back to the quality of the cuts of the diamond and the quality of that cut response to criteria which can not be put on the paper. Second thing is to choose your diamonds with your heart.”

Regarding the most on demand pieces from De Beers, he said: “In particular we have a lot asking for the solitare, a pair of studs earrings and our best sellers Enchant de Lotus, this special collection is the sympol of purity and eternity, another unique collection is our famous Telesman collection jewelry line combinig natural uncut and un polished diamonds found in mother nature with polished diamonds. This collection as I said is something that is special, for the world of jewlery. It is collection that goes back to our roots, and our mastery of working with rough diamonds since 1888, and mining diamonds in 4 countires; Venzuela, Nambia, South Africa, and Canada.”

He added, “When diamonds were intially found, and before it became the symbol of love, it was believed to have some sort of magical power characteristic. So we believe that the wearer of Talesman collection with its untreated diamonds has a special connection and bond with the mother nature. And of course you can find the whole collection displayed at the Riyadh boutique. We have wide range of products, we can work around a budget of SR3,000, SR30,000 or SR3 million, when someone buys a diamond it is something emotional and refelects the character of the person. We have to make sure that our clients always finds at De Beers, the most beautiful diamonds at any certain budget that what makes us stand out from all the different brands.”

Finally talking about two of the most determing points when it comes to choosing the perfect diamond, Delage, said: “At De Beers we select individually each and every diamond, we look at every diamond for the perfect alignment of facadas and angles to give the maximum light refraction, as De Beers is all about the light. We have clients who ask for 55 Karats yellow or exquistic red diamond which is very rare color to find. When is comes to size, it will always be a relative matter, Most people know about blue and pink diamonds, but in matter of fact in mother nature you have all the color spectrum for diamonds, it is just like a rainbow with all of its different color and it is fascinating as in every color there are a varity of tint, and no other diamond will have the same tint.”

Delage said that he’s pleased to have Saudi clients, who are asking for special colors and we as always are pleased to bring to our clients the best of the best diamonds in the world. — SG