Louis Vuitton Announces the Discovery of Sethunya, a 549 Carat Rough DiamondLouis Vuitton Announces the Discovery of Sethunya, a 549 Carat Rough Diamond

Less than a year after the important discovery of the 1758 carat Sewelô rough diamond, Louis Vuitton began a second collaboration with Lucara Diamond Corp. (Karowe mine, Botswana) and HB Antwerp, the company with closed-circuit technology focused on the diamond industry, capable of transforming a high quality rough diamond into a 549 carat gem. On February 1, 2020, on a clear, sunny day in the Karowe mine, a meticulous diamond sorter from Motswana screamed with joy. She had found what every diamond worker dreams of, an extraordinarily large and pristine rough diamond in the so-called "glove box," the state-of-the-art sorting section of the MDR (Mega Diamond Recovery XRT Circuit) that locates and recovers the largest specimens of carbon before they reach the traditional destructive process of crushing the ore. Once weighed and initially evaluated, the diamond turned out to be a magnificent 549 carat piece of exceptional purity, shine and color. It was mined from the same unit south of the mine owned by Lucara which produced other wonderful natural treasures including 1109 carat Lesedi La Rona and 1758 carat Sewelô, the fascinating black coated diamond presented by Louis Vuitton in January this year. As with Sewelô, Louis Vuitton has joined forces with Lucara, a leading producer of great diamonds of exceptional quality, owner of the Karowe diamond mine and HB Antwerp, a world-renowned diamond supply chain based in Antwerp and a manufacturing company in a partnership, both creative and commercial, to nurture this spectacular rarity, from raw crystal to polished stone to a sublime jewel to offer Louis Vuitton's customers. With this second collaboration, Louis Vuitton takes a further step into the sacred realm of Fine Jewelry, together with the great master jewelers of Place Vendôme. The 549 carat diamond, called Sethunya, which means flower in the Setswana language, as a kind reference to the emblematic Monogram flower, is estimated to be 1-2 billion years old and is remarkable both for its extremely pure texture and for the whiteness of the entire crystal. It is expected to be exceptionally beautiful in the clarity and color of the highest quality polished stones. through this revolutionary collaboration, Louis Vuitton follows the diamond's journey from the center of the Earth, through the centuries and, today, through the chain, guaranteeing full origin for each of the sublime stones that will be obtained from the raw crystal. Each diamond will be traced through HB Antwerp's technology, in full transparency, from its origins in the Karowe mine in Lucara, to the passage from the skilled hands of expert cutters in Antwerp, in the hands of Louis Vuitton's jewellery-makers in the Paris atelier. The people of Botswana benefit from the discovery, collaboration and proceeds of the diamond. All this adds further confirmation of quality and integrity, values for which Louis Vuitton is known throughout the world.