Making jewellery surely requires a good amount of creativity but according to Fred Mouawad, fourth generation heir to the Lebanese-born Mouawad jewels dynasty, it is running the actual business (which is now based in Geneva and Dubai) that requires real imagination. “Designing jewellery has certain limitations in terms of what you can really do, but when it comes to the business there’s a lot more you can do,” he reflects, speaking from his base in Bangkok, Thailand.
One of the things Fred Mouawad has done in tandem with his brother Pascal is to focus on sourcing exceptional diamonds in order to craft singular pieces for avid collectors – the kind of jewellery whose main elements can take three to four years to assemble. They’re masterpieces in fact that require rare and valuable stones that can only be acquired over time. “We’ve been buying aggressively for the last five years,” explains Mouawad. And by aggressively, he means collecting record setting diamonds like their latest acquisition: a yellow rough diamond now cut into a 54.21-carat round brilliant cut that they’ve nicknamed Dragon, referencing the creature’s magical powers and fiery eyes.
Then there’s also that other little gem they just took home – a 51.38-carat, traditional round brilliant-cut diamond, the best quality large diamond ever manufactured in Russia. That one, now named Mouawad Dynasty, began its journey as a 179-carat rough discovered in 2015 at the Nyurbinskaya kimberlite pipe in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). It’s now been reduced to 51.12 carats by Mouawad’s master polishers who saw its true potential, but it has elevated its rating from VVS1 to Flawless in the process, making it even more valuable.
These two precious finds add to a growing collection that includes some of the world’s most impressive stones, including the 245.35-carat Jubilee Diamond, believed to be the world’s sixth largest, and a rare emerald cut, 24.44- carat pink diamond estimated to be worth 20 million USD.
It may take a while before these stones make their way around anyone’s neck, but Mouawad’s strategy is a one that’s even more long term. To that end, the company is setting up the Mouawad Diamond Fund, meant to support tribal villages in South Africa and Botswana – where most diamonds are mined – through education and infrastructure initiatives
They’ve also opted to invest in the future with a plan to sponsor six-month diamond polishing training stints in Thailand, first of all for four South Africans employees who will return home with lifelong skills. “My desire is to have a positive impact,” says Mouawad, who’s at the helm of several other enterprises including Synergia One Group, which produces among other things wholesale bakery goods.
We of course knew Mouawad was the maker of seven diamond-encrusted Victoria’s Secret Fantasy bras (worth between 7 million and 12 million USD each) but we never knew there was so much more to these sparkly jewels than meets the eye.
