Jeweller - October 2022

News
Tiffany & Co launches new advertising campaign with Beyoncé
Award-winning US singer Beyoncé has partnered
with Tiffany & Co for the luxury jewellery company’s
latest campaign, ‘Lose Yourself in Love’.
As a part of the campaign, the singer is wearing a
piece from the Tiffany HardWear collection, made
specifically for the campaign. With 18-carat gold
links, the piece reportedly took more than 40 hours
to assemble and polish.
"I am honored to continue the partnership with
Tiffany & Co. and to explore even deeper how
beautiful our connections are, when we truly
celebrate the relationship and importance of love
that we have for ourselves as individuals.",” she
told ELLE.
Beyoncé, who recently released her seventh solo
album, became an ambassador for the Tiffany & Co
brand in 2021.
The partnership was formed shortly after French
luxury conglomerate Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton
(LVMH) acquired Tiffany & Co and initially, provoked
backlash among consumers.
Titled ‘About Love’, the campaign paid homage to
Audrey Hepburn’s performance in the 1961 film
Breakfast At Tiffany’s, with Beyoncé wearing a
form-fitting black gown and the legendary Tiffany
Diamond, a 128.54-carat canary yellow stone set in
a diamond pendant.
Just three women – Lady Gaga, Audrey Hepburn,
and socialite Mary Whitehouse, had previously worn
the Tiffany Diamond. The campaign ‘made history’
in the sense that Beyoncé was the first woman of
colour to wear the Tiffany Diamond.
However, social media users were quick to point out
that the diamond was unearthed at the Kimberley
Mine in South Africa in 1877, while the region was
still under British colonial rule.
Beyoncé’s decision to wear the Tiffany Diamond
was described by some a tacit endorsement
for colonialism, with some social media users
declaring the diamond to be a ‘blood diamond’.
The Tiffany Diamond does not meet the criteria
which defines a blood diamond, according to the
United Nations.
According to Insider, Beyoncé was reportedly
unaware of the history of the diamond prior to the
launch of the campaign.
For others – including Washington Post columnist
Karen Attiah – the blame lies with Tiffany & Co.
"The 'About Love' campaign fiasco with Beyoncé
lies largely with Tiffany & Co," Attiah wrote on
Twitter.
"It's the familiar new trend of white companies
using black women 'firsts' to rebrand themselves
as socially conscious — while avoiding meaningfully
dealing with their troubling history/practices.
"I find it astonishing that no one on the Tiffany & Co
team or Team Beyoncé said - 'hey maybe wearing
our huge diamond from the notorious colonial
Kimberley mine in South Africa isn’t a good look for
a campaign about black love and excellence'."
Returning to the upcoming ‘Lose Yourself in Love’
campaign, and Tiffany & Co vice president of
product and communication, Alexandre Arnault,
said the company was honoured to welcome the
return of the singer.
“Beyoncé is an inspiration to so many because she
embodies these qualities,” he said.
Did ancient sea creatures help create the Queen’s diamonds?
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth there has
been renewed interest in the history of the Royal
family’s gemstones and diamonds.
While there has been calls for the return of the
infamous Koh-i-Noor to India, it, along with
the Cullinan II (also known as the Second Star of
Africa), are believed to be ‘super-deep’ diamonds.
According to science website Physorg.com, “An
analysis of the first large diamonds confirmed
to come from deep under the Earth's surface
supports initial predictions showing that the
Smithsonian's famous Hope diamond may be
‘super deep’, originating from more than three
times deeper in the Earth than most diamonds.
“It also suggests, in a new finding, that the ‘Crown
Jewels’ Cullinan diamond may also be a superdeep
diamond.”
The research comes from a study by Dr. Evan
Smith of the Gemological Institute of America
(GIA) and was presented at the Goldschmidt
Geochemistry Conference last year.
"We examined the first large gem diamonds
confirmed to originate from Earth's lower
mantle, which is several times deeper than most
other diamonds. The results support earlier
predictions based on smaller gems, suggesting
that diamonds with properties similar to those
studied, including both the Cullinan and Hope
diamonds, are super-deep diamonds”, Smith
explained.
Smaller diamonds are known to materialise
under high pressure at a relatively shallow depth
of 140-200 kilometres amid oxygen-rich rocks. By
contrast, the biggest diamonds are likely forming
140-200 kilometres below the surface within
patches of oxygen-deprived liquid metal, hence
the term ‘super deep’.
A BBC report published on Friday states that “The
largest diamonds in the British Crown Jewels
may be pieces of the ancient ocean floor, which
have drifted down into the interior of our planet –
then come back up again.”
BBC Future senior journalist Zaria Gorvett
explained, “some of the carbon in super-deep
diamonds may be from ancient sea creatures,
which were buried in oceanic plates that
subsequently drifted down into the mantle”.
She notes, “Nearly 120 years later, the megadiamond
[Cullinan] has not been forgotten.
During the late Queen Elizabeth II's funeral
procession, several of the Cullinan's descendants
were placed on the Monarch's coffin, and rode
along with her – they were only removed as she
was lowered into the royal vault.
“That's because today these giant gems are part
of the Crown Jewels, normally kept in the Tower
of London and brought out for state events – the
Cullinan I now resides in the British Sovereign's
Sceptre, while its next-largest sibling, the
Cullinan II, is embedded in the Imperial State
Crown.”
The 2020 study by Smith - along with Wuyi Wang,
GIA vice president research – analysed the
124-carat diamond and found that it formed at the
deeper end of the possible range – at least 660km
(410 miles) below the Earth's surface.
30 | October 2022