Style Edit: the Metamorphosis by De Beers collection reimagines the changing seasons, and the miraculous emergence of a butterfly, using sparkling coloured natural diamonds

Apr 29 , 2024

De Beers’ Metamorphosis collection reimagines the changing seasons, and the miraculous emergence of a butterfly, using natural diamonds including rough pinks and fancy intense yellows. Photos: Handout

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

The abundance of beauty in nature is astonishing. The changes experienced as time passes and the seasons shift lead to some of nature’s most spectacular expressions of beauty. There are myriad ways to capture these stunning yet often fleeting moments of natural magnificence. While some artists might choose to paint or sketch, and others preserve their discoveries through taking specimens, jeweller De Beers does so in a way that perhaps best expresses the idea of nature’s changing beauty – by using those fiery time capsules, natural diamonds.

Metamorphosis by De Beers, Prelude hoop earrings

De Beers’ new high jewellery collection, Metamorphosis by De Beers, seeks to capture change and rebirth in nature as seen in the four seasons and the butterfly. Using natural diamonds – which take a billion or more years to form and are testaments to the power of time – the collection sparkles with boldness yet is as tender as nature itself.

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.

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.

Metamorphosis by De Beers, Prelude cocktail ring

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.

Metamorphosis by De Beers, Spring Butterfly ring

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.