One of South Africa’s leading jewelers and crafts designers, Kevin Friedman, visited Venetia Mine a fortnight ago to familiarize himself with the place where a large diamond that he designed into an outstanding necklace came from.

Friedman designed a necklace that had its setting of an emerald cut 102 carat diamond necklace that was unveiled by Steinmetz Group of Companies during the Formula One Grand Prix at Monaco on May 25. It was paraded at an auction that was held during the same event and ultimately sold to the highest bidder.

The diamonds set in the piece were inscribed with the Forever mark (a unique number and symbol invisible to the naked eye) and revealed to elite guests at this function. The "forever mark" is an authentication method used by De Beers as part of the Kimberly process.

It was crafted so as to reflect a traditional Venda necklace, with beads in the surrounding setting, in order to give a feel of the Limpopo Province where Venetia Mine is based. The centerpiece of this beautiful African-designed pendant contains four other large diamonds.

According to Mr Bob Govender of Venetia Mine, the diamond was named the Ponahalo Stone. This name is inspired from the BEE deal that De Beers concluded with Ponahalo Holdings in 2005, which is the year in which the stone was found.

The diamond that Friedman used in making the necklace was picked up by one of Venetia Mine’s employees in 2005. This diamond weighed 316.58 carats and was shaped like conjoined twins. It was the largest diamond ever to be recovered since the inception of Venetia Mine in 1992 and the employee who picked it was accordingly remunerated. The previous biggest diamond ever recovered at Venetia Mine weighed 272 carats. The rewarded employee has requested that his privacy is respected, therefore his name was not released.

Prior to the diamond´s being crafted, it was sent through to Belgium to begin its transformation journey into a polished gem via the hands of the master craftsman in Antwerp. "However, the stone was stolen and was recovered a year later in France and was returned to its rightful owners," said Govender.

Kevin Friedman is one of the designers in the Steinmetz Group of Companies.