Oh! my diamond facets
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THE WORLD
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DAMIEN HIRST_FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
An absolute classic, this piece of art, was made by enfant-terrible Damien Hirst using 8,601 flawless diamonds including a pear-shaped pink diamond known as the Skull Star Diamond. It costed £14 million to produce. The work of art was originally piched at £50 million and said to have been successfully sold to an anonymous buyer. Up until today though, there has been no real proof.
This arcane object is a fantastic and excessive masse of intense light, whereas death, in art, is usually bleak and surrounded by dying light and shadow. Yet there it is, in a careful installation, revealed more then just shown. We see it shine, intrigued by its eerie magnificence.
For The Love Of God, by artist Damien Hirst
Personal notes from the artist taken from the publication ‘The Making of The Diamond Skull’ _ Published by Other Criteria/White Cube.
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the cullinan diamond
Imagine 3,106 carats all in one diamond.
During an ordinary working day, on the 26th of January 1905, inside one of South Africa’s most productive mines, the Premier Mine near Pretoria, supervisor Captain Wells saw a flash of light reflected by the sun. Exposing from a rock, was what looked like a huge piece of glass. Wells took out his pocket knife and retrieved what is yet to be known as the largest diamond in the world. The Cullinan.
Left: Joseph Asscher makes the first cut into the Cullinan. Right: a replica.
It was named after the owner of the mine, sir Thomas Cullinan. After debating and voting as to whether it should be presented to King Edward VII of England as a gift, the gem was finally received and owned by his majesty. “For myself and my successors, this great and unique diamond will be kept and preserved among the historic jewels which form the heirlooms of the crown”.
Due to its immense value, transporting the diamond to England was a major issue. Faking a trip, detectives from London were placed into a boat that was supposedly caring the gem, while the real Cullinan finally got sent in an ordinary box through the post office!
At approximately 600 grams, 10cm wide and 7cm high the white diamond was twice the size of any other diamond previously discovered. This famous stone would later be cut by the I J Asscher brothers into 9 major pieces.
Left: The Cullinan V into a brooch. Right: Cullinan III and IV into a brooch
At the time, cutting technology had not yet evolved as much. Nothing could guarantee that this most valuable diamond would be processed correctly. Joseph Asscher was the most renowned cleaverer of the time. A special knife was made for him in order to divide the gem. Legend says, he fainted while performing a one-off move that broke the Cullinan in one blow, also.. breaking the knife. Another story goes that The first blow broke the knife and the diamond remained intact. A second attempt split it in two.
The 530,4 carat Cullinan I,also called The Great Star of Africa, and the 317,4 carat Cullinan II, the Second Star of Africa will be set in the Royal Scepter and the Imperial state Crown. Both gems are in the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The other seven were all mounted in brooches, a ring and a necklace and have been worn by members of the royal family on state occasions.
Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth wearing a Cullinan brooch.
As the largest rough diamond the Cullinan’s value should really remain priceless,
some specialists give the gem a value of over 2$ billion…
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what’s in a box? At Kalfayan Gallery
A jewelry box can have as much history as the jewel itself,
Carved from ancient wood, adorned with oysters and shells, jewelry boxes have been a well thought of design item through history. Very often, buried next to their kings and Egyptian Pharaos!
During our visit at Dimitris Tataris’ exhibition at Kalfayan Gallery Athens_’A Day In Hell’_ we picked up a rather controversially designed jewel box. The Cretan artist, a student of great painter Dimitris Mytaras, knows how to pay attention to detail. He mixes different elements of his multi-faceted talent, presenting complex and technically perfect works, bizarre collages overlaid on old engravings and then some..
Dimitris Tataris, Art Box, 2014 (detail)
mixed media_dimensions variable
Courtesy Kalfayan Galleries, Athens – Thessaloniki. www.kalfayangalleries.com
Sent to us by our friend and art consultant Beatrice Spengou
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best friends for ever!
The 3rd of August is International Friendship day.
We celebrate this with our funky playful Smiley pendant! Keep smiling together.
♦ Pendants: 18 Carat gold with white brilliant diamonds
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The Orlov Diamond
Few treasures are as compelling, photogenic and mysterious as the diamond. Perhaps this explains why diamonds are often as notable as their owners. Throughout history, diamonds have reached fame either through great stories of beauty or power.
The Orlov Diamond, the rose-cut gem from India, one of the Romanov crown jewels.
According to legend, the mythical gem weighting a spectacular 189,6 carats, along with its pair, once adorned the eyes on a statue of a Hindu deity in southeast India. A deserter french soldier got so mesmerized by the stone, he earned the temple’s trust in order to work and eventually steal it. And so he did!
Sold to a merchant for a fraction of its worth, the diamond was purchased in 1774 by Count Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, who in an unsuccessful attempt to regain favour gave it to Empress Catherine the Great. While she accepted the stoned, she declined the marriage proposal. Eventually banishing him form Court! Catherine had it mounted in the Romanov imperial sceptre, and it is now part of Russia’s Diamond Fund in Moscow.
Nowadays the Orlov is one of the most important items in one of the greatest collections of gems and jewelry.
The Orlov measures 47.6 mm in height, 31.75 mm in width, and 34.92 mm in length. The clarity is typical of the finest Indian diamonds and its color possesses a slight bluish-green tint. The shape of the diamond has been described as resembling half an egg. The total number of facets is roughly 180.
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the 4 c’s
There aren’t two identical diamonds in this world.
Every single one of them is unique.
Until the middle of the 20th century, there was no measurement standard to evaluate the value of a diamond gem up until the 4C’s. The beauty the rarity and the value of a diamond depends on four factors:
Cut: the right proportion, symmetry and polish of a diamond will allow the light to penetrate, giving brilliance and life to the diamond. It also refers to the shape of a diamond
Color: Or to be more accurate, the non-color of the gem is what makes it more pure. The whiter the diamond the rarer it is.
Clarity: The different types of inclusions inside of a stone define its clarity. It is rare to find a flawless gem, because that is the rule of nature.
Carat: It is the unit of measuring the weight of diamonds. Some are bigger yet some others are bigger in significance.
Today the 4C’s is the universal method of accessing the quality of any diamond anywhere in the world
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The diamond inside you
The idea behind the work of Spanish graffiti artistic team called Boa Mistura is to inspire, unite and transmit that positive energy that we all need. Famous for splashing color and messages of hope through many cities, whether it is during big changes or difficult times, it makes us realize there’s nothing better then just being ourselves.
Cape Town 2011 http://www.boamistura.com/
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Jeff, the whitney and the Blue diamond story
Today is the opening of the biggest retrospective exhibition ever made for iconic artist Jeff Koons. One of our favourite pieces is (of course) the ‘Blue diamond’ from 2005! Made of shiny stainless steel and seven-feet wide, the Blue is part of 5 works – the red, pink and green versions that are in private collections.
…You may still catch a flight and land at the Whitney Museum, New York.
It’s a Jeff thing :
-His work Balloon Dog (Orange) holds the world record of most expensive work by a living artist, sold at Christie’s New York for $58.4 million.
-As a child he went door to door after school selling gift-wrapping paper and candy to earn pocket money.
-He is an Aquarius.