“Voyage Through the Diamond Realm” Turns Diamond History Into Immersive Art
The immersive experience journeys through the myths and legends of natural diamonds, their beginnings and their cultural impact around the world.
Sharon Stone, Ciara and Julia Fox attend “Voyage Through the Diamond Realm” at Frieze New York | Photo: Julia D’Ambola & Kevin Czopek/BFA.com
At Frieze New York, attendees can expect to see innovative works of art, avant-garde visual projects, and up-and-coming artists making their mark on the New York City art scene. This year, one of the fair’s most unexpected installations is Voyage Through the Diamond Realm, presented by A Diamond Is Forever.
Meet the Author
- Jane Asher is a social media manager with a passion for pop culture.
- She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Washington University in St. Louis.
- As a journalist, her work has been featured in publications such as InStyle Magazine, Stylecaster, Martha Stewart Weddings and more.
About Voyage Through the Diamond Realm
Voyage Through the Diamond Realm is an immersive experience exploring the mythical origins of diamonds, narrated by Alva Rodgers, featuring landscapes of Africa, cosmic visuals, and, of course, natural diamond sparkle.
The experience, which debuted at Frieze London in October 2025, traces the origins of diamonds, from their birth as stardust in the hearts of stars to their discovery in landscapes of rivers and deserts. “To feel the awe of diamonds, you need to see them in a new light, and the light that we are proposing here is the light of myth and mythology,” shares Lynn Serfaty, General Manager of Natural Diamonds for De Beers, exclusively with Only Natural Diamonds. “Diamonds are like storytellers. They are rooted in very ancient stories, and we are telling one.”
Through collaboration with artists, artisans, and heritage specialists from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and France, the installation brings together visual storytelling, scenography, and soundscapes to reveal the living heritage of diamonds and their cosmic and earthly journeys across time.
InsideVoyage Through the Diamond Realm‘s Star-Studded Event
A Diamond Is Forever hosted a group of journalists and tastemakers to witness the immersive experience firsthand alongside a piece of artwork meant to represent the themes of the experience, featuring threaded ostrich egg beads, coming together into a snake-like figure dotted with rough desert diamonds.
“The material was created in Gaborone by a collective of craftswomen. The beads are toasted, and in the process they acquire all these extraordinary colors, from black to white to beige… the colors of the Kalahari desert,” explains Serfaty. The diamonds on the snake, representative of the natural diamond origin story, were sourced from Namibia’s Orange River.
“We were born from deep within the ground… connected to all the minerals that are there, including diamonds,” says Serfaty of the metaphor behind the project.
After taking in the immersive experience, alongside celebrities like Sharon Stone, Ciara, and Julia Fox, guests were escorted to a dinner reception at Markette, where another artful surprise awaited.
Guests enjoyed dinner and remarks from Sally Morrison, De Beers’ natural diamond market lead in the US, and her friend Sharon Stone, who toasted to Morrison’s “goodness, decency, and desire to understand that diamonds are a part of our culture and the history of the very planet we live on.”
The Multi-Sensory Finale to Voyage Through the Diamond Realm
After dinner, dessert was served in Markette’s basement alongside some visual dessert in the form of a multi-sensory experience conceptualized by Dreamcore Co-Founder, Creative Director, and visual artist Nasir Dean.
His goal was to present natural diamonds not as luxury objects, but “as ancient carriers of cosmic time, formed through the same universal forces that shape stars, pressure, gravity, mineral evolution, and life itself,” shared A Diamond Is Forever via a press release. The installation, called Matter of Eternity, showcased organic structures, like a blooming flower, natural life, a majestic zebra, and celestial imagery in diamond form.
“In my installation, I created the Diamond Zebra as a tribute to Botswana, a fusion of the elegance of nature and national identity. In Botswana, the zebra symbolizes strength, unity, resilience, and the harmony of individuality,” said Dean in a press release. “By transforming that symbol into living light through diamonds, the Diamond Zebra becomes a monument that nods to permanence, survival, and the rare natural beauty. A reflection of Botswana itself, a nation whose spirit moves with elegance, endurance, and unmistakable presence across the world stage.”
It was an incredible evening celebrating natural diamonds, not just for their beauty but for their incredible history within the planet and their mythological beginnings that solidified their status on Earth as desirable objects.
