A Diamonds in Space collection is a hit with customers.
HOW OFTEN DOES a business-expansion brainstorm turn into a plot to launch diamonds into space?
That’s what happened when Dianna Rae High and her husband, Jeff, discussed how to expand the reach of their jewelry store, Dianna Rae Jewelry of Lafayette, LA. Although they aren’t yet looking for brand domination of the universe, they are increasingly interested in reaching the whole world.
“Space is a hot topic right now,” Dianna says. “I was thinking about expanding because we do a lot of work with clientele over the country. I thought about opening my brand nationally without opening a new location. So, I thought about what would capture people’s attention nationally if I went online.”
They’ll be able to chart the course of their natural diamond offerings generally from deep into the earth and specifically to a certain spot in space before they wind up in the hands of a customer. A diamond story like that can’t be beat, especially for engagement rings.
In fact, NASA has issued a statement affirming the Highs will be the very first to send diamonds to space to the International Space Station to return and be resold.
“We started by calling Space X and then NASA and then that kind of put us on a year-long journey of navigating commercial space travel,” Dianna says.
Dianna Rae High is
expanding her reach.
“It was way harder than we thought it would be. NASA was working on their policies along the way. You keep hearing stories about commercial space travel being a thing, but I didn’t realize that the commercial space division is very new.”
They didn’t share their big idea until they officially signed the Space Act Agreement with NASA in late October. After that, they were excited to announce the news and instantly garnered national press attention and early sales.
“We didn’t tell the staff for a while because we weren’t sure we could make it happen,” she says, “and it was hard to keep it a secret.”
The agreement allows them to send a parcel of diamonds with a limit of 1,000 carats. They planned to sell the diamonds through January. Within less than a week after signing the agreement, they’d quickly sold seven diamonds, including three to one family.
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“The mother and father were both space geeks,” Dianna says. “They love to go outside and look at the stars with their children. Whenever the space station flies over, they enjoy watching it and following space travel in general. They purchased stars for their children. And so, it seemed very natural to buy the mom and the two daughters diamonds.”
When the family’s diamonds travel into space, they’ll be going to the launch to watch it happen.
In addition to selling loose space diamonds and engagement rings with natural and lab-grown space diamonds, they’ve also created a collection of space-themed designs, including a shooting star. About half of the diamonds are purchased loose, and half will be set into one of the Space Jewelry collection designs.
Many of the loose diamonds have been purchased by young men who love the idea of space travel and are buying them to give to someone in the future.
“Most of the space jewelry was purchased by local customers,” Dianna says. “The women fall in love with our original Space Jewelry collection that we have displayed here in the store. And the guys love the idea that the diamonds are actually going to space. It’s a perfect gift for both of them.”
The Highs also launched a dedicated website for the project, diamondsinspace.com, which has a more techy feel than Dianna Rae Jewelry’s usual branding.
“We’re trying to push the newsworthy aspect of it,” Dianna says. “We’re sending it to space bloggers and YouTubers, in addition to the general Google, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. The whole point was to take the brand national, so that’s why all the marketing says Diamonds in Space by Dianna Rae.
“It’s a good way to expand the business.”
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