De Grisogono 18K White Gold White & Black Diamond Snake Necklace

Lebanese-Italian jeweler Fawaz Gruosi (b. 1952) founded the Geneva-based de Grisogono in 1993, naming the luxury jewelry company after his mother, who had been the Marquise de Grisogono. He wanted a name that would conjure elegance and rarity. Gruosi would soon have his own aristocratic nickname — “King of Black Diamonds” — for the stones that made his jewelry house famous.

Born in Beirut, Gruosi grew up in Florence and as a teenager got a job with the Florentine jeweler Torrini and went on to work for luxury jewelry houses Harry Winston and Bulgari in the years that followed. When de Grisogono was established, most jewelers favored the simplicity of white diamonds and platinum. Gruosi was more interested in color and diamonds with character. Along with the then-undervalued black diamonds, he designed vibrant pieces that exuberantly mixed stones like emeralds, sapphires, amber, pink opal and jade.

De Grisogono's earrings, bracelets, rings and other audacious pieces bedecked with black diamonds captured the fancy of well-heeled buyers in the 1990s, leading to the brand’s meteoric rise to fame. It entered the world of luxury watches in 2000 with the Instrumento Uno for men, which led to the development of the Crazy Skull in 2015. The playful made-to-order timepiece could be outfitted with up to 45 carats of gems.

Since the early aughts, de Grisogono has become synonymous with A-listers who donned the jeweler’s wares on red carpets; the company was also known for hosting an annual party at the Cannes Film Festival. De Grisogono made headlines in 2017 by partnering with Christie’s to sell a necklace made with a dazzling 163.41-carat emerald-cut diamond for $33.7 million — a record price for a D-color flawless diamond.

In January 2020, the jewelry house filed for bankruptcy. Today, Gruosi continues to sell his intricately designed decadent pieces from his namesake boutique in London.

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