Paul Chieveley-Williams, CEO of Antwerp-based fancy-color specialist Diamwill, came on the Rapaport Diamond Podcast to talk about his enthusiasm for diamond provenance.
Chieveley-Williams told Rapaport’s Joshua Freedman how his childhood interest in fossils sparked a journey through the world of precious stones. He started working for De Beers at the age of 18, first as a sorter and then in other roles including cutting, valuation and buying, and later set up a polishing factory in Brazil.
Origin has always been a focus of his. “Part of what we’re doing is telling a story,” he said. “People today [are] far better informed, and they want to know, and it’s important. This also helps to add value.”
For example, Diamwill collaborated with timepiece brand Backes & Strauss to create a watch with a dial covered in small Asscher-cut, yellow diamonds, each featuring a logo indicating their Namibian origin. “They’d just finished the watch, and within a week it was sold,” Chieveley-Williams related. “Why? Was it price? No, it was because it was a complete story. I think more people in the trade need to understand that.”
He also recalled a conversation at a trade show in Hong Kong in which a visitor to his booth questioned how he could know where each one of his diamonds came from. “I said, ‘Because I bought the rough and I polished every stone. It’s easy.’”
He has also been developing a label called the “Antwerp Make” for diamonds cut and polished in the Belgian city. Antwerp, he argued, has superior levels of sourcing integrity, cutting expertise, and technology, aside from having a rich history and being physically close to luxury brands. “It is still the aristocracy of the diamond centers,” he said. “Everyone knows that.”
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