Butterfly Diamonds — De Beers’ Newest Collection Channels the Power of Transformation

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De Beers has been the Home of Diamonds since 1888, a pioneer in the industry used to setting new standards for sparkling beauty. Harnessing nature’s finest work of art, De Beers’ diamond experts hand select the rarest natural diamonds, creating distinctive designs meant to be as unique as the people who wear them.

That leads to the type of pieces that people treasure forever. Now, De Beers has released one of its most inspiring collections yet. Get ready for the Portraits of Nature Butterfly Collection.

The new collection channels a butterfly’s transformative symbolism to represent our own human journeys of personal transformation. It highlights its delicacy and playfulness in the design and celebrates the role butterflies play in nature, producing conversation starters that will never lose their wonder.

“Every piece in the Portraits of Nature collection is an ethereal expression of the wearer’s ever-evolving personal journey,” De Beers Jewellers CEO Céline Assimon says. “Flashing with the brilliance of De Beers’ ethically sourced diamonds, the designs connect the wearer to nature and life in motion.

“The African Monarch butterfly is iconic within Africa, a continent close to our heart, so with this new collection we connect our clients to the De Beers Diamond Route — 500,000 acres of conservation land which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.”

Butterflies are a beautiful barometer of nature, as well as important pollinators of flowers and plants. They increase biodiversity, yet their fragility makes them extremely sensitive to change. Butterflies are one of the first species to be impacted by climate variations and habitat fragmentation, but they are also one of the first species to return as habitats start to recover.

They certainly don’t stand still, evolving from one day to the next to unveil new beauty and wonder. In the same way, the new De Beers Collection invites wearers to have pride and revel in revealing their true selves, personal transformations and connections to nature.

Eleven eye-catching, timeless butterfly pieces make up De Beer’s newest fine jewelry collection. Modern elegance and free-spirited playfulness characterize the collection with pavé-set diamonds tracing the shapes of the butterfly’s wings, accentuated by a mix of fancy cut diamonds and illuminated by intricate diamond patterns that sparkle from every angle to create a sense of movement. 

The pendant — with a total weight of 0.21 carats in either 18k white or rose gold — features openwork that plays with light, while the body of the butterfly is represented by a marquise diamond. A graceful yet playful ring, beguiling stud earrings and a distinctive dainty bracelet are also available in both 18k rose and white gold. The necklace, with its curving pavé-set line of white diamonds, seamlessly segues into the wings of the butterfly, while an open ring suggests the butterfly is simply sitting on the hand, capturing an ephemeral moment in time.

Likewise, diamond pavé-set sleeper earrings suspend a duo of sensational butterfly motifs. 

In the high jewelry collection, the openwork wings sparkle with unexpected details, capturing the way butterflies land but never stay still for long in the elegant designs. Detachable elements offer the gift of transformation, while new colorways in fancy color diamonds reflect the iridescence of butterfly wings. 

The stunning butterfly brooch in all-white diamonds can be purchased as a standalone piece, or clipped onto the 18k white gold, white diamond necklace with a weight totaling 19.20 carats. Delightfully, the butterfly then appears to float on the ribbon of cascading diamonds. The brooch also comes in four other colorways, offering the possibility of alternative transformations. 

The cocktail ring features an exquisite openwork butterfly that appears to rest on the finger, while those on the earrings are softly closing their wings, with detachable drops. Both the ring and the earrings are available in white diamonds, as well as in varying colorways, the fancy color diamonds reflecting the glow and glimmer of these magical creatures’ wings. Completing the high jewelry collection is a dazzling headband in white diamonds, its butterfly alighting on the hair, detachable whenever a simple diamond hair decoration is desired.

De Beers’ Butterfly Ties

Aside from the natural beauty of butterflies, the species is incredibly special to De Beers and has significant links to the jeweler’s history. There are more than 100 butterfly species on just one of De Beers’ Diamond Route properties. More butterflies than you’ll find in the whole of the United Kingdom.

The new collection was photographed along the Diamond Route, as well as at the De Beers Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve in South Africa. The collection honors butterflies and celebrates the conservation successes achieved within the De Beers Diamond Route.

It is almost fitting that this safe haven for iconic African wildlife is marking its 20th anniversary this year. Just as De Beers’ Portraits of Nature Butterfly Collection debuts.

“Our Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve was the perfect backdrop to our belief that butterflies and diamonds are both precious treasures of nature, undergoing magical transformation to reveal their unique beauty,” Assimon says. “They are both a picture of grace, magic, hope and new beginnings.”

Founded in London with a flagship store on Old Bond Street and a presence in the most exclusive locations around the world (including boutiques in Dallas’ NorthPark Center and the Houston Galleria mall), De Beers Jewellers is the jewelry house that the most discerning diamond lovers rely on.

With 130 years of expertise, no one glorifies the world’s most beautiful diamonds through creativity and craftsmanship in bold, distinctive designs quite like De Beers. 

In addition to its unparalleled commitment to world class design, De Beers is very public about its commitment to ensuring all the diamonds it discovers create a lasting positive impact for the people and the places where they are found. De Beers calls this longterm promise Building Forever. It is a pledge to help create a better diamonds future — a future that is fairer, safer, cleaner and healthier. A future in which communities thrive, ethical practices are maintained and the natural environment is protected.

That is another kind of transformation, a transformation worthy of the beauty of the butterfly.