Editor’s Note
This article explores how luxury brands like Louis Vuitton are innovating with digital certificates to enhance the provenance and personal significance of natural diamonds, marrying tradition with modern traceability.
By Jane Asher | February 12, 2024
In 2022, Louis Vuitton made natural diamond history when the Maison unveiled their brand new custom-cut natural diamond, the LV Monogram Star.
New to the collection this year is the inclusion of the LV Diamonds digital certificate with backing from Aura Blockchain Consortium, a blockchain platform dedicated to the luxury industry. The digital certificate, provided with each purchase of a piece set with a central stone, allows the purchaser to trace the diamond from “mine to finger.” The document lists the diamond’s weight, color, purity, and cut quality and tracks the natural diamond’s journey, from its country of origin, through the workshops where it was cut, polished, and mounted, to its place on the wearer’s hand, wrist, neck or ears.
Furthermore, Louis Vuitton uses blockchain technology to reinforce each certificate’s security, operated by Aura Blockchain Consortium, which “allows for the recording and issuing of forgery-proof data thanks to decentralized storage and provides direct access to the stone’s history, and its life cycle from its creation to its distribution.”
The custom diamond cut itself, dubbed the LV Monogram Star, brings memories of a nostalgic time for the Maison, as the shape of the 53-facet cut mimics the star-shaped monogram flower created by Georges-Louis Vuitton in 1896. Timeless and billions of years old, these natural diamonds are the ultimate symbol of love with intrinsic value that will last generations.
Designed by Francesca Amfitheatrof, LV’s Artistic Director for Watches and Jewelry, the LV Monogram Star diamond can be found in rings, unisex bands, earrings, and pendants. Pavé pieces also abound along with the Art Deco-style V, reminiscent of Gaston-Louis Vuitton’s suitcases from the 1920s and 1930s.
