Our chocolate, cognac and diamond launch

The 20th of June saw the exciting new launch of our collaboration with Chocoloza, a hand-made luxury chocolate brand based at 44 Stanley in Johannesburg. South African diamond lovers came together for a decadent evening of champagne, cognac, coffee, chocolate and of course diamonds and jewellery.

One of most common questions our co-founder Clare Appleyard gets when she’s doing her diamond talks is, “What are chocolate diamonds?”. The simple answer is, of course, that chocolate diamonds are, for all intents and purposes, brown diamonds.

But calling them “brown diamonds” doesn’t do them any justice, nor does it invoke images of the rich velvety colours or extensive palette of tones in which these diamonds occur. Instead, these rich brown tones are known in the jewellery industry as chocolate, cognac and champagne diamonds – terms synonymous with specific colours, allowing clients to easily conjure up images of what these diamonds look like. Like most gemstones, the richer the colour of a chocolate or cognac diamond, the more expensive the diamond will be.

For the most part, coloured diamonds are a result of chemical imperfections in the crystal structure. Uniquely, brown diamonds form by a totally different process, one that involves a structural rearrangement of the carbon atoms.

Diamonds form in the Earth’s mantle, under conditions of extremely high temperatures and pressures. Under these extreme temperatures, the carbon atoms can become mobile and may become “dislocated” from their neighbouring atoms, an effect known as “plastic deformation”. These defects in the crystal lattice of the diamond affect the way the electrons absorb light, giving rise to rich, velvety brown coloured diamonds that are predominantly mined in Australia and South Africa.

The lattice re-arrangement that leads to the formation of these gorgeous Chocolate diamonds is not far removed from the process of tempering chocolate, in which the crystal structure of the cocoa butter is manipulated, a process mastered by Vicki Bain of Chocoloza.

“Just as our Chocolate Diamond jewellery is a luxury item designed uniquely for each individual, so too are Chocoloza’s luxury chocolates individually hand-made, so a collaboration between the two brands was almost inevitable”, says Katannuta Diamonds co-founder Clare Appleyard.

“The Chocoloza ladies have a similar commitment to excellence and with a similar client base to ours, we look forward to driving our brands forward together.”

Chocoloza has developed two unique chocolates for us and all future Katannuta Diamond clients will be gifted with a box of these chocolates. In celebration of our luxury brand collaboration with Chocoloza, we’ll be highlighting the beauty of chocolate and cognac diamonds in a new range of jewellery.

Katannuta Diamonds now proudly stocks a range of earrings, pendants and rings set with these luscious coloured diamonds and, as you’ve come to expect from us, we’ll also be designing and manufacturing bespoke cognac diamond jewellery to order for our discerning clients.

Follow our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages for more of our designs or contact us today to set your own private diamond consultation.

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