The Diamond Works, Cape Town

During my trip to Cape Town in May of this year, I decided to enrol on one of the scheduled tours which incorporated a visit to The Diamond Works.

What are "The Diamond Works"?
The Diamond Works is Cape Town's most exquisite collection of jewellery, offering a rare experience to visitors.
It is a destination where all visitors can learn about diamond cutting and it a fully operational diamond-cutting workshop.

What is a diamond and where did it come from?
Diamonds date back over 3000 years to India where they were famous for their ability to refract light in order to warn off evil.
History also sates that the diamond was sometimes used as a medical aid in the hope of curing sickness which was not successful, before becoming more popular and India's supplies started to diminish, before long diamonds were located close to the Orange river in South Africa and has managed to satisfy the World's demand for diamonds.

The Tour itself?
As you enter The Diamond Works you are greeted by a member of staff and offered a free glass of champagne or bucks fizz whichever your preference may be, mine of course was the full on top class champagne and I enjoyed it very much as we began the tour.

The Diamond-cutting Workshop
All the diamond cutters are graduates from the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Cutting School in Johannesburg and they make their job look so easy. (As does any skilled professional)

Each member of staff cut facets into the diamond and they each polish between 4 to 6 diamonds a day, here you get to witness the staff at work and see the process for yourself from start to finish seeing such a dull stone turn into a glamorous diamond was certainly fascinating.

The Jewellery-manufacturing Workshop
This is where you get to see the goldsmiths at work, we were advised that they can complete any design of your choice should you wish to have a custom made piece of jewellery crafted in either 18-carat white or yellow gold or platinum and all of the goldsmiths are of a high standard, you can see the "pouches" located to the front of the goldsmiths work place in order to catch the off-cuts and dust so that it can be separated and recycled in order to be reused so there is no waste, this process is also carried out on the diamonds.
Here you can see in the background some of the designs of the jewellery and the process of making the jewellery.

After the tour we were allowed to wander around The Diamond Works and view some of the exquisite jewellery on sale and one particular stone caught my eye and it was not diamond, it was Tanzanite and I can say I have never seen a stone as beautiful as that with a gorgeous rich purple colour and you could see the variety of colours that had been created from the Tanzanite, it was at this time that I started dropping major hints to my other half at how much I loved the rings and had never seen any as beautiful for the prices that were in the Diamond Works.

What is Tanzanite and where did it come from?
For those of you that have not come across Tanzanite as I hadn't before I visited the Diamond Works it is a rare violet-blue gemstone which was discovered in 1967 at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro and as the tour guide advised this land was set alight by lightning leading to the transformation of the crystals into the violet-blue stones. It is extremely rare and is a diminishing resource which is predicted to soon become non-existent; therefore I think this would be an extremely good investment.

At the Diamond Works you will see a lot of history displayed on the far walls of famous items of jewellery produced and worn by historical characters including the Queen's Imperial State Crown which displays a tanzanite stone at the very top of the crown which I had never noticed before and queried what stone it actually was….but now I know.

There is also an internet café located in The Diamond Works, which allows you to surf the internet and get yourself a coffee ideal if you need to send an email to someone to ask permission to get a nice piece of jewellery and believe me there is plenty of variety to choose from and if I ever get the opportunity to go back then I will make sure that I get a gorgeous ring.

All the pieces were individually hand crafted and extremely unique and all individually priced there is not an online website to view the products and you cannot order over the web, you may be able to write to them to request a specific design and see if they would allow you to purchase one that way.

Contacting The Diamond Works

The Diamond Works
Metropolitan Life Building
7 Coen Steytler Avenue
Foreshore
Cape Town

PO.Box 1785
Cape Town 8000
South Africa

Phone +27 (0)21 425 1970
Fax +27 (0)21 425 1988