It’s not every-day that we’re invited for dinner at an incredible wine estate, owned by one of the world’s best known diamond merchants, but no sooner did the very elegant invitation arrive for the FACET (For Africa’s Children Every Time) foundation, we knew this one was going to be a very classy event. Cue much tearing out of hair and screaming whilst delving into the ‘extremely glamorous and rarely worn’ section of wardrobe… Mr B! took it all in his stride and simply had his Tom Ford dinner suit couriered from London. Finally. We were ready!
Parched after navigating the acres of red-carpet, the evening began with bubbles and canapés in the impressive main reception of the beautiful estate. On display was the astonishing Delaire Sunrise diamond which – at a mere 118.08 carats – is the world’s largest yellow diamond in the world, worth in the region of $50m/ R400m… smash and GRAB?! HoneyB! did think about it, but sadly my Manolo Blahnick’s were not made for running…
The dinner in the main restaurant dining room was a veritable symphony of culinary aplomb from Head Chef Christiaan Campbell, paired with Delaire’s award winning wines. The evening coordinated by the lovely Head of Marketing at Delaire Tanja Mackay-Davidson was smoothly compared by the beautiful and talented Jo-Ann Strauss and featured a larger-than-life performance from the trio Three Tons of Fun. South Africa’s top philanthropists and art collectors were amongst the very glamorous guests.
The main event was the auction, presented by famous auctioneer Stephan Welz of Strauss & Co and featured significant works by a stellar collection of South Africa’s top artists such as William Kentridge, Deborah Bell, Dylan Lewis, Cameron Platter and Gerhard Deetflts to name just a few. The highest bid of the evening was for Girl Submerged a beautiful portrait by the very dashing, talented, young artist Lionel Smit – as the bidding rose, Lionel blushed and became more and more embarrassed until the hammer fell at a whopping R190,000… a record for his work in his home country, South Africa. The auction ended with a final lot of a diamond butterfly necklace courtesy of Graff Diamonds featuring 49 sparkling diamonds, but, despite many kicks beneath the table Mr B! sadly did not take the hint! All in all a huge R1.4m was raised for the FACET Foundation which raises money for the education, health and well-being of the children of Africa.
As we walked home (in fact Mr B! limped from all my auction ‘hints’) we both agreed that it was one of the most elegant events we had ever attended in South Africa and that British born Mr Graff in his desire to give something back to the country that has given him so many of his gems, had created an evening as flawless as the diamonds that feature so heavily in his life.
Photos by Walter Palk’s
HoneyB!……….signing off
