Style Edit: the Metamorphosis by De Beers collection reimagines the changing seasons, and the miraculous emergence of a butterfly, using sparkling coloured natural diamonds
The Metamorphosis by De Beers collection includes five sets: Prelude, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Each set features its interpretation of the butterfly as represented by its transformation in each season.
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Each of the nine pieces in the Prelude set – which uses a mix of yellow, white and rose gold, along with white diamonds and coloured diamonds in various shades – seeks to capture the intricate connections between the four seasons. The Prelude cocktail ring features a diamond clustered inside four concentric rings of white, brown and yellow diamonds, with each ring representing a season.
The Spring set is a homage to the ancient African flower the king protea. The set takes on the repeating motif of a flower petal in rose and white gold, set with white diamonds. Intense pinkish-purple, and fancy brown, orange and pink diamonds are used as colourful accents for some of the pieces – including the Butterfly ring, which features 2.87 carats of diamonds, including two rough pinks.
The spiralling forms of ancient ammonite fossils are the blueprint for the Summer set. Because sunny summer days call for equally bright and shimmery jewellery, the set features an intricate meshing of white and yellow gold, all paved in white and yellow diamonds.
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A fancy intense yellow cushion-cut diamond weighing 9.06 carats is the centrepiece of the Summer choker. The piece’s white and yellow gold band are accented with channel-set and snow diamonds.
White gold, and fiery red and orange enamel, complement the warm glow of rose gold used in the Autumn set. At the heart of the set are pear-shaped and oval-cut diamonds cloistered in ribbons of Grand Feu enamel and diamond-encrusted gold. The Butterfly ring, in particular, features orangey-brown rough diamonds resting on a bronze titanium ring jacket.
Concluding the seasons is the geometric Winter set, with references to the facets and angular silhouettes of ice fragments on frozen lakes and rivers. Motifs are pieced together to enable the necklaces and bracelets to gracefully rest on the body, while earrings float and sway with every movement.
The set’s finale features a tiara crafted in platinum, and blue and brown titanium set with diamonds, expressing a sense of weightlessness. The tiara sparkles with more than 40 carats of diamonds, including an 8.49-carat detachable pear-shaped exemplar and other stones that hang like icicles.
- Highlights include the Spring Butterfly ring, featuring 2.87 carats of diamonds including two rough pinks; and the Summer choker with a fancy intense yellow cushion-cut diamond weighing over 9 carats
- Autumn has Grand Feu enamel and diamond-encrusted gold; while the more than 40-carat Winter tiara sparkles with stones that hang like icicles, including an 8.49-carat detachable pear-shaped exemplar