De Beers places sustainability at the core of new London flagship

De Beers Jewellers has opened a new concept flagship store on London’s Old Bond Street that puts natural diamonds and sustainability at the heart of the customer experience.

The new flagship is located at 45 – 50 Old Bond Street, next to its previous location, and its design has been inspired by ‘Building Forever,’ De Beers’ commitment to creating a positive long-term impact that will endure well beyond the discovery of its last diamond.

Set over two floors, the 2,690 square foot store aims to capture the different facets of De Beers’ heritage while offering a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere by blending open space with intimate areas. It has created contemporary counter settings for its jewellery to showcase its diamond engagement rings and timeless signature fine jewellery collections, Enchanted Lotus and Talisman, which pioneered blending rough and polished diamonds.

The store also includes “love pods” allowing couples to search for their perfect engagement ring or jewellery sets for their special day and a VIP room offering a private and comfortable setting to discover the brand’s collections.

The redesign has also allowed De Beers to add interactive and virtual retail experiences, including offering a virtual ‘home of diamond’ experiences connecting customers with its diamond experts through video technology. New digital experiences, including a virtual try-on, will also be introduced in 2022, adds De Beers.

To celebrate the opening, De Beers is also showcasing a new selection of extremely rare fancy coloured diamonds, called ‘Master Diamonds,’ which will be exclusively available at Old Bond Street. Only one in every 10,000 natural diamonds is classed as a fancy colour diamond, and this selection encompasses pink and blue vivid shades. These diamonds are presented in iconic De Beers designs and simple rings so that clients can collaborate with its ‘creative studio’ to create their own bespoke designs.

De Beers designs London flagship in line with its ‘Building Forever’ sustainable strategy

As well as convey how the diamonds it discovers create a lasting positive impact for the people and places where they are found through contemporary visuals, De Beers also wants this flagship to highlight that sustainability is at its core.

Every aspect of the design, including materials and furniture, engineering from its handling of energy, air, and water consumption to construction, has been executed to meet the independent environmental requirements of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) to certify the building’s green design.

These standards are seen throughout, including an intricate lighting system that “brings the fire, light and brilliance of each diamond to life” used on the counters designed especially for the De Beers flagship to meet its “rigorous energy consumption standards”.

Christophe Carpente, CAPS Christophe Carpente Architecture Interior Design, who worked with De Beers on the flagship, said in a statement: “Nature and sustainability were at the heart of the design process as a homage to the natural beauty and wonder of De Beers’ diamonds. Every aspect of the store design, including carefully selected materials and resources, state-of-the-art engineering for energy and atmosphere management, as well as for indoor environmental quality, aims to meet the highest standards for LEED.

“As diamonds are brought to life through light and movement - two key words driving the store’s energy – we used the most advanced lighting design technology to bring the beauty of De Beers’ diamonds to life. With its organic design shapes and refined luxurious finishes, the store provides a range of both physical and digital experiences enhancing the client voyage through De Beers diamond jewellery. This new store design is a key step in De Beers’ journey to transform its retail experience.”

De Beers relaunches London flagship with exhibition and virtual retail experiences

The store also features an experiential area on the second floor, described by the brand as an “explosion of energy” to evoke the powerful forces deep within the earth’s mantle and the light that glimmers off the polished diamond. This space allows customers to interact with De Beers’ brand and history through digital features, and includes precious artifacts from De Beers’ host countries and archive imagery of Frances Gerety and her memorable tagline ‘A Diamond is Forever’, coined for De Beers in 1947.

Céline Assimon, chief executive at De Beers Jewellers, added: “We are delighted to open our beautiful new De Beers flagship, just in time for the holiday season. Our new store is a reflection of how we approach everything at De Beers - revealing the different layers of our heritage within a modern context, and forever celebrating our exquisite diamond designs and expert craftsmanship.

“To celebrate this opening, and as a true Home of Diamonds, we are presenting a selection of extremely rare fancy coloured diamond pieces. I wanted to give them the highlight they deserve and showcase what makes them so unique and precious.”