Oliver Haslam·

Jony Ive Designs $150K-$250K Diamond Ring For (RED) Auction

If you thought that Apple’s head of design Jony Ive has been slacking off lately, not even appearing in announcement videos for the new iPad Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini, you’d be mistaken.

Apparently, the man responsible for much of what Apple puts out these days has been hard at work designing his latest masterpiece, but it’s not a computer, smartphone, or tablet. It’s a ring.

Not just any ring, however. Ive has designed his very own diamond ring, working with friend and fellow designer Marc Newson to create a (RED) Diamond ring that is entirely made of diamond. Auctioneer Sotherby’s says that the ring was created exclusively for the (RED) Auction and that funds will help eliminate HIV.AIDS in eight African countries.

Sir Jony Ive, Apple’s Chief Design Officer, and renowned industrial designer Marc Newson – having curated the (RED) auction five years ago – have, this year, designed a unique ring, made exclusively for (RED) by Diamond Foundry®. Consistent with their mutual obsession with transforming raw material into objects of value, Ive & Newson’s design is singular, clear and un-compromised by the traditional metal settings and bands that have previously been required to create ‘diamond rings’. Theirs will be created by removing material rather than adding – an ambition made possible by the extraordinary scale of the stone which will enable the ring to be completely made of this material.

Creating a ring-shaped diamond is no small feat; the diamond block will be faceted with several thousand facets, some of which are as small as several hundred micrometers. The interior ring will be cylindrically cut out for the desired smoothness using a micrometer thick water jet inside which a laser beam is cast. The finished ring will have between 2000-3000 facets which has never been seen before on a single piece.

If you’re the lucky winner of that auction, your new ring will be made to your given size. It ought to be, too, with an estimated selling price of anywhere between $150,000 and $250,000. Anyone wanting to get their bid in should note that the auction will take place in Miami on December 5th. Good luck!

(Source: Sotheby’s)

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