The jewels, all one-of-a-kind original creations by the New York based high jewelry artist, were sold through Christie’s Hong Kong through an online only auction that took place July 3 -13 and attracted 5,000 online visitors. The jewels were created with more than 500 colorless and fancy colored brown-toned polished diamonds, including a fancy brown-yellow 27-carat stone, donated by Russian mining giant, Alrosa, through its social responsibility initiative, Diamonds That Care. The charitable organization contacted Hu with the proposal to create jewels using primarily brown diamonds.
Proceeds from the sale will be forwarded to The Brave Heart Fund, which provides charitable relief grants to support the families of healthcare workers who lost their lives to COVID-19. The charity was selected by the global nonprofit organization, Diamonds Do Good.
The unifying design theme of the three-piece collection is the heart shape. Hu said in a previous interview said “It’s the best symbol to show someone cares.” The amount raised was below the $420,000 they were hoping to raise through this initiative. The three jewels and the amounts they raised are as follows:
PROMOTED
* A necklace made with fancy colored and colorless diamonds, centered by a 27.02-carat fancy brown-yellow pear-shaped diamond. Colorless and brown diamonds pave the band of the necklace along the neckline in the shape of a heart. The gems are set in 18k white and red gold. Hu said in her 25 years in the jewelry industry, she has never seen a necklace in the shape of a heart, whether it’s a contemporary or historic piece. It sold for $291,773.
* 18k white and red gold earrings with fancy colored and colorless diamonds. The top of each earring centered with a 3-carat pear-shaped brown diamond paired with a group of round colorless diamonds in a pear-shaped setting. The earrings are further adorned with alternating links of white and red gold hearts paved with colored and colorless diamonds in a drop design. It fetched $27,556.
* An 18k red gold ring with fancy colored diamonds and colorless diamonds, centered by a 1.59-carat faint brown diamond. The pear-shaped brown diamond is paired with pavé colorless diamonds in a pear-shaped setting. They overlap to form a heart shape. It sold for $19,452.
Hu, who has had a relationship with Alrosa for several years, said she jumped at the opportunity to participate in this project.
“I was so happy and honored to be able to work with such a powerful global diamond mining company and I felt deeply moved by the concept initiated by DiamondsThatCare,” she said. “I’m inspired and excited with opportunities to work on projects that are more than just jewelry — something really meaningful and useful.”
Source: Forbes 15-7-2020