(PRESS RELEASE) NEW YORK — The sparkling diamond called Floeting from VG Jewelers continues to gain accolades for its revolutionary design by winning a prestigious 2022 Red Dot Design Award for Product Design in Essen, Germany.
The Floeting Diamond was launched globally in 2021 by VG Jewelers as a breakthrough innovation in solitaire diamond setting. The Floeting design eliminates traditional claws, clasps and prongs which usually holds diamonds in their 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 jewelry 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 Red Dot jury wrote that the setting realized “Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s dictum about perfection being achieved when there is nothing left to take away.”
The jury’s comments continued, “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.”
Ian Douglas – master jeweler of Wellington, New Zealand – directed the development of Floeting involving 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,” says Ian Douglas. “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.
The Best of the Best of Red Dot 2022 will be held in Essen in June; however Ian Douglas says that the Floeting team will be in Las Vegas for the annual JCK Show, the USA’s leading annual jewelry industry event attracting 30,000 industry professionals.
Ian Douglas says there is high anticipation from their team at the opportunity to show the mesmerizing sparkle and 100% light return potential of this game changing, and now award winning, innovation in solitaire diamond settings.
“Aotearoa New Zealand’s reputation for high precision design, engineering and manufacturing takes a further step forward with the Floeting Diamond,” says 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.”