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TrendsMar 03, 2016
Week in Photos--November 30, 2013
What features 38,883 carats of diamonds, 4,753 grams of gold and took 30,000 man hours to create?
Unveiled Wednesday at a rooftop event in Hong Kong, these boots are covered in 1,550 carats of natural color brown, gray and pink diamonds. A total of 400 guests attended the shoe unveiling, including Her Royal Highness the Queen of the Belgians Mathilde and the Minister-President of the Government of Flanders Kris Peeters. Chinese artist Yi Zhou modeled the boots.
What features 38,883 carats of diamonds, 4,753 grams of gold and took 30,000 man hours to create?
The answer: the $3.2 million pair of boots unveiled this week during Hong Kong “Business of Design Week,” which, this year, focused on Belgian creativity. And, what better way to showcase the country’s creativity than through diamonds from the trading center of Antwerp.
The boots were a collaboration between a two Antwerp-based companies. Diarough/UNI-Design provided the diamonds and luxury label and A.F. Vandevorst came up with the design for the shoes.
Click through this week’s slideshow to see the diamond-covered kickers, as well as photos of jewelers doing good.
Unveiled Wednesday at a rooftop event in Hong Kong, these boots are covered in 1,550 carats of natural color brown, gray and pink diamonds. A total of 400 guests attended the shoe unveiling, including Her Royal Highness the Queen of the Belgians Mathilde and the Minister-President of the Government of Flanders Kris Peeters. Chinese artist Yi Zhou modeled the boots.
An Vandevorst and Filip Arickx opted for a paisley pattern for the diamonds covering the size 39 (a women’s 8.5 in U.S. sizing) black leather ankle boots. A team of skilled craftsmen at UNI-Design’s manufacturing plant in India set all 39,083 diamonds used.
For the cross-shaped A.F. Vandevorst logo, seen here on the back of the boots, reddish-pink diamonds were used. The entire process, including designing and producing the boots and selecting, sorting, shipping and setting the diamonds, took a total of 30,000 hours.
With family and friends by his side, Stuart Zuckerman, a former Citizen executive and runner, participated in what is likely his last race Saturday, a one-mile Turkey Trot in New Jersey. As profiled by National Jeweler, Zuckerman has Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD), a disease that results in an ongoing decline in behavior and/or language.
Zuckerman had his family by his side, including son Eric, pictured here on the right, as he completed the one-mile course by walking.
Day’s Jewelers was one of 10 retailers who won a local grant from Jewelers for Children and chose to donate to Camp Sunshine, a retreat for children with life-threatening illnesses. Present at the check presentation were store manager Leo Gerrior, left, Day’s owners Jeff and Kathy Corey, Camp Sunshine Executive Director Matt Hoidel, Day’s Katie Leighton and Joseph Pappalardo with Camp Sunshine.
Florida retailers Ed and Tracey Dikes, co-owners of Weston Jewelers, got a personal visit from actress and Parkland, Fla. native Cassie Scerbo after donating to the Somaly Mam Foundation, a fund that fights human trafficking and slavery worldwide. Scerbo, one of the stars of Sharknado, jumped 18,000 feet from a plane in Santa Barbara last month for the annual 18FOR18 campaign to benefit Somaly Mam.
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