Cultus Artem unveils celestial necklace of salt-and-pepper diamonds

Cultus Artem turned to salt-and-pepper diamonds, silver South Sea pearls and more than 39 carats of diamonds to make a necklace that looked designed to challenge the standard white-stone formula. River of Heaven, the one-of-a-kind piece shown in Couture’s Design Atelier, used 26 diamond charms to create a high-jewelry composition that felt more atmospheric than symmetrical, and more textural than glossy.

That matters in a market where high jewelry often leans on brightness alone. At Couture 2025 at Wynn Las Vegas, where roughly 300 high jewelry and watch brands filled the show floor from June 4 to June 8, Cultus Artem stood out by building contrast into the design itself. The salt-and-pepper stones gave the piece a mottled, celestial quality, while the silver South Sea pearls softened the look and kept the necklace from reading as a conventional diamond collar.

Cultus Artem says the necklace is set in 18k gold and was conceived as a tribute to the Cowherd and Weaver Girl legend, the story behind Qixi, or Chinese Valentine’s Day. That narrative gives the piece a clear cultural anchor, but the more commercially useful idea is structural: texture, mixed materials and unconventional pairings can make diamonds feel new without abandoning luxury codes. For designers watching the category, that is the lesson in River of Heaven. The drama comes not from size alone, but from the way the stones are allowed to vary in tone and surface.

Holly Tupper, who founded Cultus Artem and serves as its designer and creative director, said she has always been fascinated by more unusual diamonds. That instinct runs through the brand’s broader identity. Cultus Artem says it was originally established in Singapore in the 1990s, rebranded in 2015, and is now headquartered in a historic building in San Antonio, Texas. The house also presents fine jewelry alongside fragrance, skincare and a recently launched home collection, while describing its work as the product of master artisans using labor-intensive techniques intended to last for generations.

River of Heaven is priced on application and arrives in an artisanal leather jewelry box handmade in a small workshop in Bangladesh. For clients and designers alike, the necklace shows how a high-jewelry piece can trade conventional sparkle for depth, story and finish, and still look unmistakably precious.