Diamonds Are an Art Institute’s Best Friend
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Dancer Nieve Corrigan, CEO of Leviev USA Chagit Leviev, author Candace Bushnell, dancer Mary Thomas Mackinnon. Photo credit; Jason Lowrie/BFA.com.
Lauren and Bob Roberts, Chagit Leviev, Greg Sofiev, and Katlean de Monchy hosted a preview of Leviev’s Brilliance in Bloom diamond designs in honor of the Southampton Arts Center on June 29.
The forecourt of the main house of the Roberts estate. (Photo credit: Leviev Group USA)
The 120 guests were greeted by ballet dancers draped in diamonds, vintage Porches, a pair of trendy Mercedes G Wagons and a Ferrari. Waiters with silver trays offered Aperol, prosecco and seltzer as well as top shelf spirits in what seemed to be the first sunny Sunday of the season. People were awed by the precisely trimmed gardens and the opulent, 20,000-square-foot Southampton mansion of gym magnate Bob Roberts and his wife, Lauren Day Roberts. Hey, Andy Cohen, wouldn’t this be a perfect setting for a television series set in Southampton? Something regal?
Photo credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
The party, a match between Leviev, an international jeweler and design house, and the Southampton Arts Center, a gem of creativity and education, was held not in the main house, but in the no-less impressive 8,000-square-foot guest house, which had an expansive open gallery facing a fountain and a pool.
The Porsches and the Ferrari in the driveway, gently used vintage models, were from Ryan Friedman Motor Cars of Glen Cove. The dancers, Mary Thomas MacKinnon and Nieve Corrigan of the New York City Ballet, were modeling diamonds from LEVIEV. Many pieces in Leviev’s new line, Brilliance in Bloom, are examples of the latest trend: fancy, colored diamonds. Those who keep up with such things know that a clear 10.1-carat Mediterranean Blue diamond ring sold in Geneva in May to an American collector for $21.5 million. Let’s just say, the event in Southampton had a cultivated air of “If you know, you know.”
The New York City Ballet dancers Mary Thomas MacKinnon and Nieve Corrigan showed off Leviev’s natural diamond necklaces and earrings. Photo Credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
What lay ahead was a bountiful walking luncheon. Artful plates were in constant motion from the wait staff. People were not isolated at tables. Instead, they wandered, greeted friends, sat for a while, and moved on. More to the point, they tried on those exquisite pieces of jewelry. One necklace was priced at a cool $1.2 million. Security was tight, but discrete.
Greg Sofiev helps the noted architect Elizabeth Steimberg study the diamonds. Security hovers. Photo credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
The jewelry was within reach of this gathering. Prominent among the guests were the kind of people who own racehorses, are titans of real estate, in the media, have wings of museums named for them, and fund cups at the Hamptons Classics, as well as socialites who adorn themselves with significant pieces for galas in the City, in Palm Beach and at a few events out East.
Passed plates. Photo credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
Dining options ranged from Scottish smoked salmon, portobello mushroom fries, Vietnamese spring rolls, and gazpacho to dim sum and, for dessert, gelato and bananas Forster. It was all thanks to CEO Group USA Chagit Leviev and her husband, Greg Sofiev, CEO of LEVIEV, in honor of the Southampton Arts Center (SAC). Guests included Candace Bushnell (her article about sex after 60 in Sag Harbor had just run in New York magazine, so there was much discussion about that, although not always with her), Jean Shafiroff, Dottie Herman, Maria and Kenneth Fishel, Jamee and Peter Gregory, Janna Bullock, Kristen Baran and Sheila Rosenblum, a former ballerina and model who owns a racing stable.
The article Candace Bushnell wrote in New York magazine’s The Cut section had just come out. Bushnell is the author of “Sex and the City.” Courtesy New York magazine
Also in attendance were Louise Braver, Lisa Gastineau, Nancy Jane Loewy, Joanna Mastroianni, Kathy and Othon Prounis, Nicole Salmasi, Larry Wohl and Leesa Rowland.
And now, a presentation…
As with all such events, there was a formal program, but a short one. New York State Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright presented Proclamations of Service citations to SAC’s Board Members, including Simone Levinson and J. Whitney Stevens, in recognition of their commitment to the cultural life of the East End. Executive Director Christina Strassfield was acknowledged for her leadership and vision, which has positioned the Southampton Arts Center as a vibrant year-round cultural and educational destination. Katlean de Monchy, the producer of the event, received a proclamation from Seawright for her perspicacity. It read that she was a “cultural compass for the Hamptons,” with a “talent for uncovering the soul of an event” and “drawing the right people into the right rooms for the right reasons.”
Katlean de Monchy with hosts and members of the Board of Directors of SAC:: Robert Vahradian, Elyn Kronemeyer, Nicole Salmasi, Bob and Lauren Day Roberts, Sylvia Hemingway, Representative Rebecca Seawright, who presented the citations, Peter Gregory and Christina Strassfield, the Executive Director. Photo credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
After the presentations, a saxophone began to play, people danced or resumed chattering, sipping and examining the bracelets, pins, necklaces and earrings. Little did they know that party bags contained $2,000 gift certificates from Leviev.
Jean Shafiroff admiring Leviev’s designs, which incuded several natural colored stones, one of the latest trends in high design, and pavé pieces. She is with Greg Sofief, CEO of Leviev. Photo credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
It is an international company with a Manhattan showroom (invitation only). Leviev, until now little known in the US, has an irresistible online store with a range of pieces including under $1,000 gifts, gold-and-diamond hoop earrings for $1,400, as well as a pair of stunning deep green diamond earrings. Long at war with De Beers, Leviev is now the world’s largest cutter and polisher of diamonds and sells its uncut natural gems to the world’s most illustrious jewelers.
Dottie Herman, Suzan Kremer, Sheila Rosenblum, Ruth Miller, Lauren Day Roberts, Lucia Wong Gordon and Anna Stone. Photo credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
State Representative Rebecca Seawright, Chagit Leviev Sofiev and Greg Sofiev, principals of the diamond behemoth Leviev. Photo credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
The author and actress Leesa Rowland and the designer Cindy Karen Photo credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
Lauren Day Roberts and Kara Ross. Photo credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
The spirit of this joyful day was the community of the guests, the Levievs, who were so generously in attendance, the Roberts as gracious hosts offering their beautiful home and the board of the Southampton Arts Center. A portion of proceeds from jewelry and car sales will benefit the Arts Center, helping to sustain its mission and ongoing programming. – Linda Lee
