Kimaï: Disruptive but Sustainable

Who Jessica Warch and Sidney Neuhaus, Co-founders
Where London
Why It seeks to bring clarity, innovation and inclusivity to the diamond industry, fuelled by the belief that transparency and consciousness now defines modern luxury
Web kimai.com

Jessica Warch and Sidney Neuhaus both have indisputable jewelry backgrounds. Born and raised in Antwerp into two diamond and jeweler families, they could simply have continued in their parents’ footsteps but instead… in 2018, they decided to move to London and found Kimaï, a high-jewelry brand which we could define as “progressive” or breakaway, especially if one assumes that the idea was conceived in that quintessential “city of diamonds”. In actual fact, their choice falls exclusively on lab-grown diamonds, 18k recycled gold and the artisan workmanship of every single Kimaï item. Jewelry of the highest quality and manufacture created purely on demand and at fair prices, which is no mean feat. The ultimate aim of this operation was to transmit a sense of transparency, innovation and inclusiveness to a young public and aware consumers in a world which, until very recently, belonged solely to an elite. And the results were not long coming. The first to arrive were tangible and economic with the announcement of an initial round of funding to the value of 1.1 million Euros headed by Talis Capital. Outstanding investors within the group include designer Rebecca Minkoff, Facebook manager, Fidji Simo and the French entrepreneur, Xavier Niel, who operates in the telecommunications and high-tech sector (he founded Iliad). Neither is there any shortage of celebrity addicts. Some examples? Emma Watson, Jessica Alba and the lady herself, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.