Culture & Style
By Maggie Morris. June 23, 2025
F1 Actor Damson Idris Has Diamonds In His DNA & His New Jewelry Line Proves It
Discover Damson Idris’s new DIDRIS jewelry line, inspired by his African heritage and family legacy.
Didris Monogram Cuff, Price Upon Request, didris.com
Written by: Maggie Morris
British actor and DIDRIS founder Damson Idris greets me, smiling and radiant, at the Chateau Marmont. He’s just come from LAX off a long-haul flight from Cape Town. You wouldn’t know it. He’s completely unfazed, while I’m frazzled from the afternoon traffic. Dressed head-to-toe in black, he moves with easy grace—no jet lag, no fanfare, just presence. Around his neck, a natural diamond and tourmaline pendant catches the dim light of the lounge, subtle but impossible to ignore.
The F1 star’s style is effortlessly classy and distinctly his own—but before I can compliment him, he beats me to it, calling out my look with a flash of charm that’s both disarming and sincere. Idris possesses an understated, authentic kind of charisma: quiet but effusive, natural, and undeniably star-bound.
Meet the Author
- Maggie Morris is a writer and multi-disciplinary creative.
- Through both her writing and design work, she aims to reveal the details and nuance that reflect authenticity.
- She studied Anthropology at Wesleyan University and received a creative writing award from UCLA for her in-progress book.
As a child growing up in Peckham, London, Idris would dig through his mother’s jewelry boxes while she was at work, layering her gold necklaces around his neck and stacking her rings on his fingers. He’d head off to school, proudly showing off his bling to friends, before racing to return each piece to its rightful place before his mother returned home.
“I always knew the value of jewelry—jewelry was the first thing that came into my life,” Damson Idris tells me in what feels less like a casual statement and more like an origin story. It’s the kind of foundational narrative that explains everything that follows—the actor sitting across from me isn’t just launching DIDRIS or indulging in his obsession with jewelry. He’s stepping up and taking responsibility for continuing his family lineage. He says, “Being African and understanding my history has shown me that my love for jewelry is in my DNA.”
Idris’s great-grandmother in Nigeria was known for her jewelry collection—pieces held not just for their beauty, but as tangible assets passed down through generations. That reverence for raw natural materials was inherited by his mother, Silifat Idris, a woman with a sharp eye for both elegance and enterprise. In her twenties, she began sourcing gold in Nigeria and selling it in London’s Hatton Garden, using the proceeds not only to support her children but to help bring her extended family from Nigeria to the UK. “Gold was really what elevated her,” Damson says. “She used that money to bring everyone from Nigeria to London, where she had me—the last of her six children.”
Being African and understanding my history has shown me that my love for jewelry is in my DNA.
At home, Damson Idris saw the transformational power of jewelry by observing his mother. He saw something shift in her when she chose which jewelry to wear—it brought a sense of pride and presence, a kind of radiance.
“I saw how jewelry made her feel glamorous and classy,” he says. “She passed that on to me and all of my other siblings.” What he’s describing isn’t vanity or aesthetics—it’s a personal, everyday expression of self-worth. The jewelry we choose to wear often serves as a physical anchor to our identity and ancestry. This sensibility infuses every piece in the DIDRIS collection: the designs carry more than aesthetic value, symbolizing a material connection to his Nigerian heritage and family legacy. This transformation of cultural memory into wearable art allows both creator and wearer to carry their stories with them—a form of embodied remembrance that transcends mere fashion.
Silifat remembers the first natural diamond ring she bought for herself in 1977—for £460— a piece she treasures to this day. Inspired by that same sense of intention, Damson Idris began his own ritual.
I saw how jewelry made her feel glamorous and classy. She passed that on to me and all of my other siblings.
Once his acting career began to take shape, beginning with his first credited role in 2012 on the British television series Miranda leading to his breakout part as Franklin Saint on FX’s crime drama Snowfall in 2017, Idris would set aside a portion of each paycheck to collect pieces that resonated with him—from Rolex watches to a Cartier panthère ring. “I definitely was in love with Cartier. I still am,” he says. “I loved so many of their concepts—how they managed to influence and penetrate culture in such a unique way while staying classy and true to their heritage.”
The move from collector to creator was a natural evolution. With DIDRIS, Idris channels that lineage into something tangible. The collection is rooted in heritage—both familial and African. For him, natural diamonds aren’t just stones; they’re vessels of memory and meaning, cut with connection and history.
That connection guided one of his first and most important decisions: responsible, ethical sourcing. From the beginning, DIDRIS has used only natural diamonds from Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia—each stone Kimberley Process-certified by De Beers and sourced exclusively from conflict-free nations. “It was never a question,” he says. “I needed the diamonds to honor the land they came from.”
It was never a question. I needed the diamonds to honor the land they came from.
Intricate designs draw inspiration from traditional culture – like a handwoven rope necklace in 18K yellow and rose gold reflecting Nigerian bead traditions. Other details are a nod to his familial heritage: diamond studs have a 6-claw setting symbolizing the six children of Silifat Idris. “I always wanted DIDRIS to be about connection—to hone in on those special relationships we all have with one another. Each design holds a deeper meaning,” he says. “That’s what I’ve always looked for when buying jewelry—and that’s what I’ll continue to bring to the pieces we create.”
In this way, Damson Idris hasn’t just designed jewelry but constructed a perfect circle—from his childhood self, adorned in his mother’s treasures, to an adult creating pieces that he hopes might someday be secretly borrowed by his children, continuing the cycle of transformation, aspiration, and belonging that jewelry has always represented in his life.
And as he brings that legacy into the world through DIDRIS, the support has come from legends who recognize something real in what he’s building. While filming the upcoming Formula 1 blockbuster for Apple, Idris introduced co-star Brad Pitt to the line—who, as it turns out, became a fan. Fellow Brit Idris Elba, set to appear alongside him in the forthcoming adaptation of Children of Blood and Bone, also offered his blessing on the brand’s name and placed an order for his wife.
“Those moments were very special to me,” Idris says. “Those are the giants whose shoulders I stand on. I never imagined I’d be introducing them to this passion of mine—it just encourages me to keep going.”
