Jenna Housby gave herself a serious assignment when she sat down to design Aether Diamonds’ first fine jewelry collection. It was mid-pandemic, but Housby saw a future where people wanted to celebrate again, whether it was freedom in terms of a revived social scene or personal expression.
As Aether’s chief design officer, Housby also wanted to give Aether’s diamonds a luxury setting, pushing new ideas around what kind of design and feeling could come from lab-grown diamonds. Aether is best known for creating what it claims are the world’s first diamonds from atmospheric carbon, pulling CO2 from the air rather than using fossil fuels like other lab-grown diamond producers.
The result is Aether’s new Bombé collection, which seeks to balance beauty, self-expression, and a generational commitment to sustainability, Housby says.
As inspiration, Housby says she thought of diamonds as a way to celebrate life’s milestone moments and also of things like going out with friends to places such as New York’s famous Studio 54. She also wanted this collection to connect to the jewelry Aether customers already wear, such as its bridal pieces as well as bespoke commissions.
“We wanted to show the potential of what we’re doing as a company and what we can do in terms of design,” says Housby. “It’s the story of the brand as well as that of celebrating yourself through these luxurious pieces.”
In its advertising campaign for the Bombé collection, Aether sought out activists such as sustainable fashion advocate Aditi Mayer, environmental scientist Nikita Elyse, and ballet dancer and choreographer Gabe Stone Shayer to highlight the collection’s messages, which speak to how people want to represent freedom through their selection of sustainable goods, says Ryan Shearman, Aether’s cofounder and CEO.
Photographed and directed by Jake Rosenberg, the resulting images emphasize the idea of being a caretaker for the future, positively impacting local communities as well as the planet, and the concept that “the future is a luxury,” alongside images and videos of the Bombé collection on Mayer, Elyse, and Shayer.
“There’s a perception that a commitment to sustainability comes with some form of sacrifice,” Shearman says. “When you are creating a ‘more sustainable’ product, you must still meet the same requirements for quality and style that consumers have come to expect. Tesla has done a great job at this. They have demonstrated that you can deliver to consumers what they want and desire [in terms of sustainability] in a high-end product without having to sacrifice in any dimension.”
Telling the story of this stone through statement pieces such as those found in the Bombé collection is why the Aether team is working so hard and so quickly, Housby says. Housby, Shearman, and fellow cofounder Dan Wojno are all jewelry-industry veterans. Wojno and Shearman came from David Yurman; Housby has worked with Theo Fennell and Stephen Webster as well as Pandora.
Describing itself as a “climate tech startup,” Aether debuted in 2020 and has moved quickly to gain traction within the jewelry and fashion worlds. To back up its environmental efforts, Aether earned its B Corp certification in early 2022.
Top: In August Aether Diamonds released its first fine jewelry collection, Bombé, inspired by thoughts of freedom, personal self-expression, and a commitment to sustainability. Its advertising campaign features influencers including Aditi Mayer, a sustainable fashion advocate, photojournalist, and labor rights activist (photos courtesy of Aether Diamonds).
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