Every Diamond

Almost every diamond on earth passes, at some point, down a single Antwerp street — the Hoveniersstraat, the most famous and reputed address in the trade and the true heart of the city of diamonds.

It is an unremarkable street to look at, and a fortune crosses it every day. Stones from every mine on the planet are carried along its few hundred metres, hand to hand, in plain paper parcels worth more than the buildings around them. To buy here is to glimpse the life behind the curtains of the jewellery world.