This 18-karat yellow gold engagement ring and wedding band set is from Jared Jewelers’ new “Storied Diamond Desert Sands of Eternity” collection. The diamonds in both pieces were mined in Botswana and are traceable back to their mine of origin. (Photo courtesy of Jared Jewelers)
New York— While lab-grown diamonds helped fuel Signet Jeweler’s second-quarter success, one of its banners is focusing on natural diamonds heading into the holiday season.
Last month, Jared Jewelers, the “accessible luxury” store in Signet’s fleet, held a party and private dinner at New York’s recently reopened The Frick Collection art museum.
The purpose of the fête was two-fold: to screen “A Diamond Is Born,” a short film commissioned by Jared, and to celebrate the launch of a new, traceable collection of natural diamond jewelry, “Storied Diamond Desert Sands of Eternity.”
Screened downstairs in The Frick’s new 220-seat Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium, “A Diamond Is Born” was shot in Botswana and directed by Luc Jacquet (“March of the Penguins”).
The 20-minute, documentary-style film tells the story of how diamonds formed and their role in the history and economy of Botswana, providing revenue to build hospitals, roads, and schools.
It is told from the perspective of Mpho Tadubana, a gem cutter who lives and works in the country’s capital city, Gaborone.
Beautifully shot, the short film is informative but in an artistic way, which is what Jared Jewelers President Claudia Cividino intended when she hired Jacquet, who won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2006 with “March of the Penguins.”
She wanted someone who understood the importance of relaying the science but would be able to do it in a way that is captivating.
“I chose Luc Jacquet for a very specific reason,” Cividino explained in an interview following the event.
“First of all, he is a scientist. He won the Academy Award for ‘March of the Penguins,’ but he didn’t spend four years in Antarctica capturing [the behavior of] penguins for a movie. He spent four years in Antarctica capturing [the behavior of] penguins as a scientist.”
Diamond cutter Mpho Tadubana in “A Diamond Is Born.” Directed by Oscar-winner Luc Jacquet, the 20-minute documentary tells the story of natural diamonds in Botswana, with voiceover by Thia Owor. (Photo courtesy of Jared Jewelers)
“Storied Diamond Desert Sands of Eternity,” meanwhile, is Jared’s new collection of natural diamond jewelry that is exclusive to the retailer and has been tracked from mine to market via a proprietary blockchain built just for Jared.
Cividino said all Jared salespeople have been trained to start with the “Storied Diamond Desert Sands of Eternity” collection whenever a customer who’s interested in buying a diamond comes into the store.
The salesperson will then show them the journey of the diamond, including what it looked like in the rough state, and the plotting for and process of cutting.
If the consumer purchases a piece from the “Storied Diamond” collection, they receive a QR code where they can access the story of their diamond’s journey.
All diamonds in the collection were mined and cut in Botswana (Jared parent company Signet has owned a diamond-polishing factory in Botswana since 2013), are 3/4 carat or larger and graded by the Gemological Institute of America.
Cividino said they are sold at a “slight premium” to other diamonds.
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While there is a debate in the industry over how much consumers actually care about a diamond’s origin, Cividino views knowing a diamond’s individual journey as an additional tool salespeople can use to talk about the stones.
“I think it’s a little bit, what comes first, the chicken or egg? So, no, probably no one ever asks where a diamond comes from,” she said.
“But we also don’t educate a consumer about where a diamond comes from, and I think that has been part of the dynamic the industry has seen with lab-grown diamonds taking such significant share.”
She continued, “When we [reduce] the transactions to price, we don’t do ourselves and the guest the service of really educating them about the nature of this incredible stone. And I don’t believe that talking about color, cut, and clarity is the full story.”
She said jewelers need to inspire consumers to think about the “magic” of the stones, and the fact that nothing else in their lives is as old or as rare as a natural diamond.
The collection includes engagement rings, anniversary bands, semi-mounts, loose diamonds, and fashion pieces. Prices range from $1,700 to $22,999.
While Jared’s new collection has the word “Desert” in the title, Cividino clarified that “Storied” is not part of De Beers Group’s new beacon program, introduced in Las Vegas as “Ombré Desert Diamonds” and now just “Desert Diamonds.”
“To be clear, this is not a beacon collection. This is a collection Jared has been working on for two years. This is completely traceable and connected to the blockchain,” she said.
(De Beers’ beacon program, which officially launched Friday with an event in New York, has only been in the works for a year.)
“The collection was not built for the purpose of selling colored diamonds. It was built for the purpose of showing a guest a diamond from its origin to their finger.”
However, Cividino noted that as the team at Jared was developing this blockchain collection, De Beers told them about the new “Desert Diamonds” beacon program and the team thought it “would be beautiful” to incorporate some desert tones into the collection.
Yellow- and brown-tinted diamonds are available in the collection’s assortment of loose goods, though none are included in the mounted jewelry, she said.
Jared will be advertising “Storied Diamonds Desert Sands of Eternity,” which launched in mid-September and is being sold at Jared stores across the country as well as online, in the run-up to the holiday season.
Actress Antonia Gentry, who plays Virginia “Ginny” Miller in the popular Netflix comedy/drama series “Ginny & Georgia,” stars in the campaign for the “Storied Diamonds Desert Sands of Eternity” collection. (Photo courtesy of Jared Jewelers)
Actress Antonia Gentry (“Ginny & Georgia”) is the face of the collection’s campaign.
Cividino said the retailer is in “extensive talks” for wider distribution of the film, and while she cannot share more details, “There’s been a lot of interest.”
She did note that the Jared team has discussed the possibility of having local screenings in some of the store’s top markets.
“There’s so much energy about the subject and we think it would be a compelling way to bring the story to communities. We think there would be a lot of interest to see the film in some of the larger cities that we serve.”
