A Dutch Artist Just Engraved the World’s Smallest Artwork Onto a 2.75-Carat Diamond

Amsterdam-based jeweler Trophy by Gassan has offered Dutch artist Pablo Lücker 13 of their patented, laser-enhanced GASSAN 121 diamonds as canvases for perhaps the world’s smallest artworks.

The limited series of laser-engraved diamonds, known as the HE(ART) Diamond Collection, debuted at a trade show in Amsterdam earlier this month. Each features a different heart designed by Lücker, carved onto one 2.75-carat crown jewel and 12 1-carat diamonds. The larger gem sold for a stunning $134,000, and the smaller diamonds, nearly sold out, are going for about $31,000 a pop. Each of the HRD-certified stones comes with a certificate for the art it features.

Carats refer to a diamond’s weight rather than its size, but the face of an average one-carat diamond typically measures just one-quarter of an inch. Lücker accounted for their microscopic size by developing a series of unique hearts, since the shape itself is so universally recognizable. Variations of the designs reflect the infinite varieties and complexities of love.

“One heart is about the love for traveling and staying in connection when you’re not together,” the artist said. Another, acknowledging self-love, “shows a hand on the heart and represents staying true to yourself and doing things with passion.”

Former footballer-turned-Gassan executive Calvin Jong-a-Pin recruited Lücker for the company’s first artist collaboration. Lücker told Artnet News that Damien Hirst’s eye poppingly expensive For the Love of God (2007), a platinum cast skull featuring 8,601 diamonds, inspired him to participate. Lücker and Gassan conceptualized the HE(ART) Diamond Collection over eight months.

Lücker’s efforts have sparked a fair amount of interest. One couple replaced the diamonds in their wedding rings with his work. “Someone else wanted to use my diamond for an engagement ring, which I think is a great compliment,” Lücker added. “They know the secret—that there is something inside.”

The collection is all gone once it sells out, but Lücker is teasing future collaborations with Gassan. “There will be something cool coming soon,” he said. “Keep a close eye on my Instagram.”