We are pleased to announce that our invention The Floeting Diamond has won a prestigious 2022 Red Dot Design Award for Product Design in Essen, Germany.
The Floeting Diamond was launched globally in 2021 as a breakthrough innovation in solitaire diamond setting. The Floeting design eliminates traditional claws, clasps and prongs which usually hold the diamonds in the setting. Prongs impede the light return and sparkle of the diamond and obstruct a clear view of the beauty of the gemstone.
One of the biggest design competitions in the world, the Red Dot Awards attract over 18,000 design professionals, companies, and organizations from more than 60 countries each year. The 2022 Red Dot jury comprised 50 international designers, design professors and journalists from 23 countries.
In their evaluation, the Red Dot judges said, “Less is more – this formula fully applies to the jewellery series The Floeting Diamond.” Floeting was awarded for its launch collection of diamond studs, pendant necklace, and solitaire ring. Praised for its minimalist perfection, the product is described by the Red Dot jury through “Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s dictum about perfection being achieved when there is nothing left to take away. The focus is on sparkling diamonds, set in a way that the entire attention is drawn to the brilliance of the gemstones. Almost invisible, the bezel is remarkable for more than one reason. It is made of a special space-age titanium that is combined with high quality gold and platinum and provides particularly long and secure hold for the cut diamonds.”
The development of Floeting involved an elite international team of diamond cutters, laser engineers, metallurgists, scientists, and testing laboratories. It’s wonderful to have Floeting out in the world after thinking about it for a decade and then another decade of meticulous development behind closed doors. The Red Dot Design Award brings a huge smile to our team because this is a truly global competition of immense quality.
Red Dot Product Design awards are presented according to aesthetics, quality, durability, functionality, and symbolic and emotional content. Also awarded in 2022 for product design were the KiaEV6 which has also won the 2022 European Car of the Year award, and for products from leading brands design including Sony, LG, Epson, Knoll, Kartel, Peugeot, and Honda.
"Aotearoa, New Zealand’s reputation for high precision design, engineering and manufacturing takes a further step forward with the Floeting Diamond,” says inventor and founder of The Village Goldsmith, Ian Douglas. “The physics of this innovation have never been achieved before, and nor has a diamond ever been seen before with this degree of clarity. For us, this is an achievement of perseverance, ambition, and global collaboration.”
