Most People magazine mentions of fancy colored diamonds belong to women such as Jennifer Lopez or Megan Fox for their famous engagement rings. But when a special pink diamond named for Oscar-winning actor Grace Kelly walks the red carpet, it becomes headline news. (Kelly is also known as Princess Grace of Monaco.)
That kind of excitement around colored diamonds and fine jewelry is what Maison Mazerea hoped for with its debut of La Vie en Rose, the first setting created for its hero stone.
The new jewelry brand brought its signature diamond and its debut collection of more than 25 pieces to New York last week, showcasing its brand story and future plans.
“Diamonds and jewelry over the past 50 years have lost some of the mystery that they should have and have become a commodity. We want it to be an experience, the way it used to be,” says Maison Mazerea founder Peter Ravenscroft. “Our brand focuses on the beauty, the passion, and the warmth of fancy colored diamonds.”
Maison Mazerea considers its November New York trip to be its official U.S. debut, and the brand showcased its complete inaugural collection, which includes necklaces, pendants, brooches, and rings. The showstopper is La Vie en Rose (shown at top), designed by Parisian jeweler Lorenz Bäumer, but it is just the beginning for the brand, which calls itself “the world first haute diamanterie,” like a haute couture fashion house, Ravenscroft says.
The Grace Diamond, formerly known as the Argyle Stella, is a 1.79 carat fancy vivid diamond with a purplish-pink hue. Maison Mazerea launched its partnership with the Princess Grace Foundation and renamed the diamond in July in Paris. Its Bäumer necklace puts the Grace in the middle with a ring of white diamonds and fancy yellow diamonds encircling it. Both the white and yellow diamond circles can flip, allowing the wearer to change the look.
The brand’s new collection also includes the Coeur de Mazarin, a 7.45 carat fancy vivid yellow diamond, which it created at its Grand Atelier in Perth, Australia. This piece is convertible, so it can be worn three different ways, including as pendant and as a brooch, Ravenscroft says.
Maison Mazerea may be a new brand, but it is working diligently to create a legacy, making storytelling and a fresh perspective on colored diamonds its trademark, Ravenscroft says. Its name is inspired by the 17th-century diamond collection of Cardinal Jules Mazarin, who the brand says was a father figure to King Louis XIV of France.
The Maison mines, cuts, and sets all of its stones, Ravenscroft says, which allows the brand to offer full traceability and “complete control over the entire value chain.” Ravenscroft also is the managing director and CEO of Burgundy Diamond Mines, which bills itself as “building an end-to-end diamond company.”
Ravenscroft says Maison Mazerea will never sell the Grace Diamond; it will become the icon of its brand and collections. Each year, Ravenscroft says the Maison will work with a new designer to create a one-of-a-kind setting for the purplish-pink diamond, and it will be the star of a fundraising event for the Princess Grace Foundation.
From here, Maison Mazerea will work on additional heritage collections and hopes to work with the Princess Grace Foundation on its jewelry offerings. The sky’s the limit, Ravenscroft says, especially when you work with a material as fine as this.
“They are individually pieces of art,” Ravenscroft says.
Top: Maison Mazarea is the proud owner of one of the rarest pink diamonds in the world, the Grace Diamond. It is the final pink diamond of its color, quality, and size to be mined from the Argyle Mine in Western Australia. The brand had the diamond set in this necklace, La Vie en Rose, which recently made its U.S. debut in New York (photos courtesy of Maison Mazarea).
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