Pictures have been revealed of the ring made by Apple's departing design chief Jony Ive and his frequent collaborator, renowned designer Marc Newson, from a single enormous diamond.
The duo designed the all-diamond ring last year for AIDS charity (RED), whose chief operating officer Jennifer Lotito describes the piece as "a thing of absolute beauty and sustainability".
Sotheby's auctioned the ring at Design Miami in December 2018, where it was purchased by an anonymous buyer for US$256,250.
Since the whole ring, band included, is cut from one diamond and cannot be resized, it was crafted bespoke for the buyer after the auction.
There ring was cut from an artificially grown diamond
The carbon-neutral foundry said Ive and Newson's "ambition made possible by the extraordinary scale of the stone". Its team grew a 45-carat rough diamond, cut it using a laser guided by a micrometer-thick water jet and polished it. The finished ring closely matches Ive and Newson's blueprint, including the promised 2,000-3,000 facets ? a never-before-seen amount.
"A project of this size and quality would not have been possible using a mined diamond," said Diamond Foundry CEO Martin Roscheisen. "The craftsmanship of the (RED) Ring represents a major milestone in the diamond industry."

"This is more than just a ring," added (RED) COO Jennifer Lotito. "It's a thing of absolute beauty and sustainability which is going to save lives. We're so grat...