Fitzwilliam Diamond Company
From FitzyWiki
The behemoth's behemoth.
Contents |
Company History
The Fitzwilliam Diamond Company was founded in 1883 by Lord Alexander Fitzwilliam's oldest son, Jameson. Jameson had been involved in diamond mining in the 1860's, eventually buying out a portion and exporting diamonds to England, where he moved in 1881 (but frequently returned to South Africa).
In 1883, after the profits from his diamond mine had tripled the family's already extensive fortune the company was formally created and Jameson remained in South Africa permanently. His wife, and the wife of his son Frederick, were instrumental in starting the jewelry faction.
Thanks to the American Depression, FDC was able to buy out De Beers for a handsome sum, solidifying their name as synonymous with diamonds. Lady Elizabeth Fitzwilliam, the wife of Frederick, was friends with Lady Duff Gordon and helped turn Fitzwilliam into a company of the highest standards and most exclusive clients. With so many diamonds at their hands, they were able to create one of a kind pieces for royalty and aristocrats, something that takes years to accomplish due to the need for particular stones.
80% of the world's diamonds belong to the Fitzwilliam Diamond Company and this remains to this day, thanks to the varying locations of their mines and top notch care of their workers.
On 11 September, 1980, the Marlborough Diamond (worth £400,000) was stolen from the London shop. Armed with a revolver and hand grenade, two robbers stole a total of £1,429,000 worth of diamonds (another precious jewel worth £200,000 and eighteen other pieces from the window displays were also taken). No one was harmed and the robbery lasted only minutes.
It was later discovered that the thieves were Joseph Scalise and Arthur Rachel, Chicago mobsters. They were quickly extradited to England and tried and convicted. They served nine years, but the Marlborough Diamond has never been found.
The Diamonds
Part of the reason that FDC has the monopoly on diamonds is simply because the Fitzwilliam Diamond Company is still run by the original family, and has not been bought out by a corporation or formally merged with any other companies (save for buying De Beers in the early 20th century). In comparison with most companies, FDC is rather small, operated almost like a tiny family business, but it stretches across the globe.
FDC is also famous for its extremely high wages, excellent housing and medical care for its workers in the mines (they own mines in South Africa and Botswana and Russia, as well as a few in Canada). In addition, FDC is completely regulated by the Kimberley Process, meaning no conflict diamonds are ever, ever sold or even touched. Members of the family itself participate in mining for the diamonds. No family members direct the individual mines, keeping leadership distributed.
The company exports and imports its diamonds, selling them to many jewelry companies; but the Fitzwilliam line of jewelry itself is known to be top of the line and incredibly expensive, catering to royalty and the extremely wealthy. Rather ironic, considering the bulk of their reputation lies in charity work.
Companies such as Tiffany, Zales, Cartier and many other fashion houses, purchase diamonds from FDC. All diamonds are engraved with the company seal.
The Jewelry
FDC jewelry is sold in only three stores on the planet. A flagship shop in London, a second shop in Cape Town (on the waterfront), and a brand new shop in New York City.
Genuine FDC jewelry is custom-made and many pieces are one-of-a-kind. They favor white gold and platinum over silver (though silver is used from time to time). They use a vast selection of stones, from diamonds to pearls and everything in between, and specialize in rings and extraordinary necklaces.
In order to actually be a Fitzwilliam piece, Patrick Fitzwilliam and his team of inspectors have to approve of the design and execution and do a quality check. It is not legal to put the FDC seal on a piece of work that doesn't go through him. It is also not legal to use their diamonds and jewels and metals for personal commissions. Those materials are sold to companies, such as Tiffany, and they will still be marked with the Fitzwilliam seal. The company has to make a profit, after all! (As 80% of the world's diamonds, thus the majority of the legal and perfect ones, belong to FDC, you're almost always going to have one if you have a diamond piece.)
The Charity
FDC helped found the charity Jewelers for Children, and donates approximately 10% of the company's yearly revenue to HIV/AIDS research (yearly revenue being over $5 billion US dollars). They are also the financial backing of many schools in South Africa. (See also, Hope In Alms.)
Business
FDC has many ads, usually in high fashion magazines, though they also run occasional television commercials. They don't usually do cheesy, romantic ads--theirs are focused on the jewelry itself or the people wearing it. They have no slogan.
There is a monthly publication, usually quite high gloss and pamphlet-sized, that illustrates their latest creations, new lines, and even some sketches and drawings of future designs.
Charlie Fitzwilliam (and his son) often helps pick the models used in the ads. Family members are rarely featured, celebrities are rarely used. The company prefers models or candids (with permission). Some ads have a very distinctly Fitzwilliam feature: no jewelry shown at all. Those generally show people just being people. The ones that do show the jewelry are focused on the jewelry and are always done stylized ways. They try to be both fun and elegant.
The shops carry the line and one-of-a-kind pieces. The cheapest FDC jewelry itself, on average, costs no less than £1,000. The average price of an original piece is over £10,000, with a great majority dipping into the hundreds of thousands of pounds, even millions. Their customers are most often the extremely rich or royal, or other organizations, such as stylists for major awards shows, who rent them out for the full cost of the piece.
The company brings in about $5billion US dollars every year.
Employees
All designers for the company are required to also know how to manufacture and create their pieces by hand. Only the top designers are hired and aside from taking commissions and working with Patrick to create new lines of jewelry, they are encouraged to create their own one-of-a-kind pieces for sale in the stores.
Charlie retired at the start of 2008.
Patrick Fitzwilliam, CEO/lead designer/manager of London shop
Sir Charlie Fitzwilliam, Honorary Dad, retired CEO
Ruth Fitzwilliam, Honorary Mum
Scott Fitzwilliam, VP/designer
Unnamed Employee, Manager of South African shop
Unnamed Employee, Public Affairs Director
Unnamed Employee, Public Affairs
Jane Allison, Editorials/advertising
Hugh Daniels, Layout
Unnamed Employee, Layout Manager's Assistant
Unnamed Employee, Editor
Unnamed Employee, Editor
Dominik Szabo, Photographer
Unnamed Employee, Photographer
Unnamed Employee, Photographer
Unnamed Employee, Photographer
Unnamed Employee, Photographer
Unnamed Employee, Photographer
John Driscoll, Legal guru
Bianca Rheys, Fitzwilliams' legal guru
Benedict Milton, Another legal guru
Nancy Malone, Yet another legal guru
Ethan Hennessy, An additional legal guru
Melanie Porter, And still another legal guru
Eloise Smith, Because they need more legal gurus
Bethany Fletcher, Accounts
Michael Ashley, Accounts
Charles Sweeney, Accounts
Nigel Fitzgerald, Accounts
Deborah Chisholm, Accounts
Emma Brown, Accounts
Numerous quality inspectors for cut diamonds
Numerous quality inspectors for rough diamonds
Hundreds and hundreds of miners and managers and inspectors at each local mine
Over a thousand security workers and people working to invent new security
London
Nicole Evans, Designer (twenty years)
Roland Hollingsworth, Designer (eighteen years)
Mariane Watson, Designer (fourteen years)
Colin Archer, (twelve years)
Troy Erskine, Designer (four years)
Ella Daniels, Designer (two years)
George Gibbs, Diamond cutter (forty seven years)
Elke Jansen (thirty five years)
Micheal Cromwell, Diamond cutter (thirty two years)
Brad Long, Diamond cutter (thirty years)
Earnest Compton, Diamond cutter (twenty nine years)
Everett Hyde, Diamond cutter (twenty six years)
Cody Wright, Diamond cutter (twenty six years)
Jack Sadler, Diamond cutter (twenty one years)
Jude Epworth, Diamond cutter (seventeen years)
Antonia Jones, Secretary
Jeffrey Harding, Secretary
Katie-Lynn Turner, Secretary
Brian Morton, Secretary
Margaret Fletcher, Undersecretary
Harry Allan, Undersecretary
Nadine Doherty, Undersecretary
Elizabeth Hart, Undersecretary
Oscar Whittle, Temp (filing, mail, odd errand jobs, etc.)
Elijah Hawkins, Temp (filing, mail, odd errand jobs, etc.)
Natalie Rose Lawson, Temp (filing, mail, odd errand jobs, etc.)
Ella Jackson, Temp (filing, mail, odd errand jobs, etc.)
Cape Town
Etienne de Cooker (fifty four years)
Marie Irwin, Designer (thirty three years)
Sebastian Andersson (twenty three years)
Louis Van Niekerk, Designer (twenty one years)
Isa Gradwell, Designer (ten years)
Sarah de la Bat, Designer (eight years)
Paul Meijer, Diamond cutter (fifty years)
Shawn Grundlingh, Diamond cutter (fifty years)
Joanna Lindstrom, Diamond cutter (forty eight years)
Marjorie Ellingson, Diamond cutter (forty two years)
Marc Baker, Diamond cutter (thirty years)
Daniel Nygaard, Diamond cutter (twenty five years)
Jengo Miles, Diamond cutter (twenty one years)
Olga Kemp, Secretary
Julia Möller, Secretary
Preetya Bhikha, Undersecretary
James Nussbaum, Undersecretary
Sam Holbrook, Temp (filing, mail, odd errand jobs, etc.)
Marie Johnson, Temp (filing, mail, odd errand jobs, etc.)
New York City
Various people in similar positions as the others.
Location
Corporate Offices
Where a lot of the hard labor takes place. Advertising is taken care of (editorials, commercials, etc.), diamonds are cut, legal things happen, business things happen, Patrick is found goofing off, accounts are accounted for, the temps are located 90% of the time, board meetings happen, more goofing off happens.
They have exchanges and showings here, as well. Tours are offered every Wednesday from noon to three.
There is a twice-yearly gathering in which diamonds are bought and sold by companies and people across the world.
The Courtyard
Royal Exchange
London
EC3V 3LR
Tel: +44 (0)207 929 2774
Boutiques
All three boutiques operate by request only for personal showings. They handle no more than three customers at a time simply because most of the jewelry, the biannual collections excepted, is one-of-a-kind.
You do not have to buy anything even if you request a showing. You must book at least a week in advance, as they do serve quite a lot of people.
London
Fitzwilliam Diamonds UK
6 & 7 New Bond Street
London W1S 3SJ
Tel +44 (0) 20 7584 7744
Fax +44 (0) 20 7581 3457
Cape Town
Fitzwilliam Diamonds ZA
7 Coen Steyler Ave
Foreshore
Cape Town
Tel +27 21 475 6464
Fax +27 21 425 8435
New York City
This is just the boutique. They've had an office in New York for several decades.
Fitzwilliam Diamonds NYC
15 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10036
