Origin of name
The Gruosi diamond gets its name from Fawaz Gruosi, the
renowned Swiss jewelry and watch designer, manufacturer and dealer, who
undoubtedly will go down in the history of the jewelry industry, as the
pioneering jewelry designer and manufacturer, who introduced the hitherto
under-rated Carbonado or black diamond, as an ornamental gemstone, that
could be set into extraordinarily beautiful black jewelry masterpieces, that
could stand on an equal footing, with it's traditional non-black counter
parts. Being an experienced jewelry designer, Fawaz turned out some
exquisite items of jewelry and watches, set with black diamonds.
Characteristics of the
stone
The diamond is a 115.34-carat, heart-shaped, black
diamond, which is the 4th biggest faceted black diamond in the world,
after the 160.18-carat emerald-cut, "Table of Islam" diamond. See table below.
List of famous black
diamonds
|
S/N |
Name |
carat weight |
shape/cut |
|
1 |
The Spirit of Grisogono |
312.24 |
old moghul-cut |
|
2 |
The Black Star of Africa |
202.00 |
|
|
3 |
The Table of Islam |
160.18 |
emerald-cut |
|
4 |
The Gruosi diamond |
115.34 |
heart-shaped |
|
5 |
The Korloff Noir |
88.00 |
|
|
6 |
The Black Orlov |
67.50 |
cushion-cut |
|
7 |
The Amsterdam |
33.74 |
pear-shaped |
Fawaz Gruosi has designed a beautiful necklace consisting
of 58.77 carats of small black diamonds, 378 carats of small white diamonds
, and 14.10carats of tsavorite garnets , all set in white gold. The
centerpiece of this necklace is the 115.34 carat heart-shaped Gruosi
diamond, hanging as a pendant.
History
The diamond was discovered in India in 1998, and weighed
300.12 carats in the rough state. Having purchased the diamond, Gruosi
entrusted it's cutting to world renowned, black diamond cutters, based in
Antwerp Belgium, headed by black diamond cutting specialist de Grisogono.
Despite the expertise and experience of the diamantairs of Antwerp, the
cutting of the Gruosi diamond proved very tricky and posed a serious
challenge to the cutters, as the material that constituted the stone was
fragile in certain areas and extraordinarily hard in other areas. Even
though it was originally planned to have an oval shape, as the cutting
progressed, it was decided to go in for a heart-shaped finished stone. It
took three years for the diamond to be cut and polished and transformed into
its' perfect heart-shape. There was an inevitable loss of more than half
it's original carat weight. The finished diamond had a weight of 115.34
carats, equivalent to a loss of weight of 184.78 carats.
Drastic losses of weight in cutting black diamonds is not
uncommon. The Amsterdam black diamond which weighed 55.85 carats in the
rough state, weighed only 33.74 carats in it's finished form, as a pear
shaped diamond. Likewise the Back Orlov that weighed 195 carats in the rough
form, had a drastically reduced weight of only 67.50 carats in it's
finished form as a cushion-cut. This is quite understandable as black
diamonds are more suitable for industrial purposes, and the occurrence of
gem quality black diamonds is quite rare.
Characteristics of black diamonds can be summarized as
follows :-
1. Black diamonds are porous, and appear to be composed
of millions of minute diamond crystals, stuck together.
2. The porous material contains trapped gas bubbles, that
appear to result from gases present when the diamonds were formed.
3. Black diamonds are extremely hard and difficult to cut
and polish. The hardness of black diamonds exceeds that of conventional
diamonds.
4. The extreme hardness of black diamonds is due to lack
of crystal planes along which cleavage can occur.
5. Black diamonds are more suitable for industrial uses
such as grinding and drilling and less suitable for ornamental purposes.
6. Black diamonds are always found in alluvial deposits
and never found in Kimberlite pipes, a possible indication that they did not
originate deep inside the earth's crust as conventional diamonds.
The only important source of black diamonds in the world
today are Brazil and the Central African Republic. No black diamonds have
been found in the conventional diamond mines of South Africa, Russia,
Australia and Canada. This coupled with the fact that black diamonds are
found only in alluvial deposits, have given rise to the speculation that
black diamonds have an extra-terrestrial origin. In fact a team of
Geologists from the Florida International University, has proposed, that an
asteroid about half a mile in diameter hit the earth billions of years ago,
when South America and Africa were connected land masses. The deposits of
black diamonds in Brazil and Central Africa, are today thousands of miles
apart, because of the continental drift that occurred afterwards.
Fawaz Gruosi - The King
of Black Diamonds
Fawaz Gruosi, the "King of Black Diamonds", is of
Lebanese origin. His father was a Lebanese national and his mother an
Italian. Fawaz left Lebanon in 1961, and took his mother's surname Gruosi.
He dropped out of school when he was just 18, an adolescent not knowing
exactly how to charter the future course of his life, when his mother
suggested that he go out and make some pocket money. Following his mother's
advice, Fawaz took up a job in a jewelry shop, in Florence, and it was here
the foundations for a great career in jewelry designing and manufacture was
laid.
Fawaz worked for about 20 years for some of the world's
finest jewelry houses, turning out exquisitely designed masterpieces of
jewelry. During this period he gathered enough experience in the art of
jewelry designing and manufacture that elevated him to the position of a
world class designer and manufacturer. But, in this capacity there was only
limited scope for him to apply his novel and innovative ideas as a highly
imaginative jewelry designer. Besides this, Fawaz had always nurtured a
dream of becoming an independent designer and setting up his own business to
create jewelry under his own name.
In pursuance of this dream, Fawaz established the first
company in partnership in 1993, but subsequently, in 1995, he became the
sole owner of the company. Having become an independent entrepreneur, Fawaz
had the total freedom to make his own decisions, and take bold and novel
initiatives, which his traditional counterparts would not even dare to. "The
principal of creativity to do something different is my credo." says Fawaz,
in an interview given to Monita Ragpal of the CNN in February 2006.
In 1996, Fawaz launched the de Grisogono brand name, by
opening the first de Grisogono boutique on rue du Rhone, Geneva. This
was the same year that Fawaz got the inspiration to try something different
and venture into a hitherto unexplored field, the world of black diamonds.
It all started when he was browsing through a book and accidentally came
across a photograph of the famous 67.50-carat Black Orlov diamond. The
photograph probably would have been, the Cartier's setting of the
cushion-cut Black Orlov, surrounded by contrasting white diamonds in a
pendant, to a diamond and platinum necklace. Fawaz immediately swung into
action. He took a trip round the world, scouting for black diamonds in all
the diamond mining areas of the world, and was able to collect sufficient
quantities of these previously under-rated stones, in different sizes, to
embark on his daring experiment. In spite of the difficulties experienced in
the cutting and polishing of these rough stones, they were eventually
transformed into jet black beauties, by a team of black diamond cutters,
based in Antwerp.
Fawaz, then went about the task of setting these diamonds
into exquisite jewelry, with unique and creative designs characteristic of
the magical touch of Fawaz. He built up a breathtaking jewelry collection,
consisting of necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings, based on the black
diamonds. To bring out the contrast in colors, he always associated the
black diamonds, with other gemstones, such as, white diamonds, gray
icy-diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds, sapphires etc.
Fawaz then launched his unique collection of black
diamond jewelry in Geneva, under the de Grisogono brand name. The novel
jewelry were snapped up by eager and discerning customers, and the de Grisogono black diamond jewelry, almost became an instant success. The
popularity of black diamond jewelry soared beyond all expectations, and
Fawaz Gruosi is credited with launching the love affair between the black
diamond and women around the world. According to Fawaz, the black diamonds
have long been under-rated as a gemstone, but are now receiving the
attention they have long deserved. Fawaz then used black diamonds to adorn
everyday objects like sun glasses and mobile phones, which enjoyed great
demand from the customers.
With the success of the de Grisogono black diamond
jewelry, new boutiques were opened in London and Gstaad. Then more outlets
followed in quick succession, in Rome, Paris, St. Mortiz, Kuwait, Moscow and
Hong Kong. These nine shops were opened within a period of twelve years.
Truly the growth of the de Grisogono chain of outlets had been phenomenal,
thanks to the growing popularity of the black diamond jewelry. "We are still
in the process of growing and we need to keep growing for at least another 7
to 10 years. And to grow you need milk and in this case the milk is cash."
says Fawaz, in the interview with CNN's Monita Rajpal. He further said, "I
wouldn't like people could find my products, everywhere. If we go to our
shops in Geneva and New York, you will not find the same pieces. I keep it
very exclusive in that way." The company has now grown into a global empire,
with a network of 140 points of sale around the world, which includes
besides de Grisogono Boutiques, other authorized distributors as well.
Fawaz Gruosi is married to Caroline Gruosi Scheufele,
heir to the rival jewelry business, Chopard. Fawaz met Caroline when he was
just 21. At that time they were working for different companies. They got
married, yet their business interests were kept independent of one another.
A beautiful mutual relationship emerged between husband and wife, exchanging
constructive criticism, advice and support for each others ventures. Chopard
grew into a mighty watch-making and jewelry firm long before Fawaz started
his own de Grisogono watch-making and jewelry company. Fawaz Gruosi's de
Grisogono company went into partnership with his spouse-owned business
Chopard, in 2002, in order to provide a sound financial base for the
growth of de Grisogono. Fawaz Gruosi owns 49 % of the shares of de
Grisogono's capital, and Chopard owns 49 %, while the remaining 2 % serve as
a guarantee. In this partnership Chopard makes it's experience and know-how
available to Grisogono, but in all other respects de Grisono remains
independent of Chopard. Creation of watches and jewelry, distribution and
marketing for the brand still remains the responsibility of de Grisogono.
Having achieved phenomenal success in the jewelry
manufacturing arena, within a short period, Fawaz turned his attention
towards watch-making, and in the late 1990s unveiled to the world, a men's
watch set entirely with square-cut black diamonds, which became another
instant success. He then created jewelry watches for Chopard, one of which was the
highly innovative "Ice Cube Collection," in which each watch was set
with 76 perfect black diamonds. Encouraged by this success, Fawaz
decided to launch into watch production in the year 2000, under the de
Grisogono brand name. The company made a sensational debut into the
watch-making world in the year 2000, with an unquestionably original model
known as the Instrumento No Uno, which was unveiled to the world at the
international watch, clock and jewelry fair in Basel. For this time piece
collection Fawaz used black diamonds mixed with white diamonds or colored
stones. The features of these unique watches were, square shaped case with
slightly arced sides, a second time zone indicator, a large date aperture at
7.30, a grooved crown with an inset black diamond, automatic modified
caliber, two tier dial, 42-hour power reserve, water resistant to 30 meters.
The Instrumento No Uno was a resounding success.
Following the success of the Instrumento No Uno in the
year 2000, more innovative models followed each year :
Year 2001 - Instrumentino for ladies.
Year 2002 - Instrumento Doppio.
Year 2003 - Instrumento Doppio Tre and Instrumento Tondo.
Year 2004- Instrumento Steel and Diamonds, Instrumento
Chrono, and Lipstick.
Year 2005 - Instrumento Grande, Occhio Ripetizione Minuti,
Power Breaker.
Year 2006 - Grand Open Date, Uno Grande Seconde, FG One,
Be Eight.
Year 2007 - Instrumento Novantatre
According to Fawaz Gruosi his greatest surprise was the
success of de Grisogono watches, which he had never thought would take off
the way they did. The Instrumento De Uno which was launched seven years ago
is still their best seller, and the sale of watches have now reached 50 % of
the turnover of the company. Fawaz Gruosi attributes his success to the fact
that he has his "feet on the floor", is always original, never neglects
quality, and keeps prices down.
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