Louis Vuitton bought the second biggest diamond of the world Named “Sewelo”, the uncut gem measures 1758 karats

Louis Vuitton bought the "Sewelo" diamond, the second largest in the world, from Lucara Diamond Corporation. The diamond was found last April at the Karowe mine in Botswana, and the French brand's purchase was an unexpected move. Many recent signs show the renewed interest that Michael Burke, CEO of Louis Vuitton, is putting in the production of jewelry: in April 2018 Francesca Amfitheatrof, former director of jewellery design at Tiffany, was appointed artistic director and, in November of the following year, LMVH bought Tiffany itself for sixteen billion dollars. According to an interview with Burke in The Financial Times, Louis Vuitton is implementing a strategy to make Louis Vuitton's jewelry store "one of the top five players" on the market.

According to Tobias Kormind, director of 77 Diamonds interviewed by Forbes about the matter, the Sewelo is remarkable for its caliber but its blackened appearance could be indicative of a mediocre quality. At the moment the carbon "shell" in which it's enclosed does not allow to determine the composition and the shape of the cut will be determined by any impurities that will be found. Lucara, Louis Vuitton and the HB Company of Antwerp have also partnered to fund cutting operations that will employ state-of-the-art 3-D scanning technology and could last for over a year.

The purchase of the Sewelo diamond represents a potentially risky bet for Louis Vuitton but that could represent the attempt to revive the brand's jewelry production with a project of the highest profile, at least on the plan of advertising.