By Rachael Taylor
If you haven’t heard of Samer Halimeh, you will know some of his famous clients – Naomi Campbell, Elton John and Oprah Winfrey have all shopped with the New York jeweller. And now, you can get more familiar with his jewels – including a diamond ring with a £20 million price tag – at a lavish new store in London’s Knightsbridge.
Halimeh has spent £10 million on the London store, which showcases his precious jewels over two floors, with a basement vault filled with rough diamonds and top-quality coloured gemstones. The store, at 161 Knightsbridge, watched over by a suspended Stefano Bombardieri statue of a rhino, was designed by Caroline Perrin of AC Matiere; a design house known to have worked with brands including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Tiffany & Co.
As well as finished jewellery, with prices starting at £5,000, Samer Halimeh also offers a bespoke design service and can rework heirloom jewellery into modern designs. It also deals in rare coloured diamonds.
While Samer Halimeh has its headquarters on New York’s Fifth Avenue, it is yet to open a store there, although it has plans to do so in the next five years – as well a boutique in Hong Kong. It also has a store in Riyadh, which opened in 2010 and has served members of the Saudi, Brunei and Abu Dhabi royal families, and a store in Kuala Lumpur that opened in 2014. The jewellery house also runs pop-up boutiques in Cannes, Monte-Carlo and Courchevel throughout the year.
Talking of the new location, Halimeh said: “Our new London flagship store enables us to showcase our complete collection. We chose London because it is a premier world city which serves as a hub for Europe, Scandinavia and Russia and benefits from luxury brand shoppers from the Middle East, India and Africa.”
