Chopard turns 342-carat diamond in “The Garden of Kalahari”

Nothing says I love you the way diamonds due. Especially large diamonds seem to have this mystique around them. For this, we can blame people like Richard Burton, who said “I love you” in a very grand way to Elizabeth Taylor in 1969 by gifting her a 69.42 carat diamond that still bears their name. Taylor also used it for love, selling the diamond eventually in 1979 to fund a hospital in Botswana.

It was in that country that “The Queen of Kalahari” was discovered, a stunning 342-carat diamond. While stones this large are already rare by itself, the “The Queen of Kalahari” is also colorless, with a D-clarity rating, and Flawless.  The Karowe mine where the diamond was found happened to be one of the suppliers of Chopard, who’s co-President  Caroline Scheufele immediately boarded a plane to see the rough diamond in person. Being also responsible for the ladies’ collections and high jewellery of Chopard, Scheufele immediately saw the potential of the stone, so she took it home where the brands Haute Joaillerie department turned it in “The Garden of Kalahari”.

This “garden” consists out of 23 diamonds, of which five weigh over 20 carats. The stones are cut in the five most traditional shapes: cushion, brilliant, heart, emerald, and pear. They form the centerpieces of the collection that consist out of six different pieces of jewelry.

The most breathtaking is by far The Garden of Kalahari necklace, for starters because it allows you to add on pendants containing the 50-carat brilliant-cut, 26-carat heart-shaped and 25-carat pear-shaped gems creating a diamond extravaganza. Thanks to the ingenuity of Chopard’s jewelry makers the heart-shaped and pear-shaped diamonds can also be worn as a set of asymmetrical earrings, when not attached to the necklace.

The cuff bracelet, which is also completely adorned with diamonds, even holds a secret. A watch will emerge when you move the top part of the bracelet to the side.  Two rings put a finishing touch on the collection.

The design of the collection is very romantic. Like diamond-set lace, it is as much elegant, as that it makes a bold statement. This has been the signature of Chopard’s Haute Jouallerie collections for quite some time, but with “The Garden of Kalahari” collection they bring it to a new high, making one very lucky woman indeed feel like she is the Queen of Kalahari when wearing this unique collection.

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