He is Sydney’s leading jeweller and winner of the prestigious De Beers International Award.Everest Diaries in an exclusive interview, found out more about the founder and creative director of the House of Cerrone, Nicola Cerrone.
Q. Can you please tell us about Cerrone’s involvement with racing? Do you own any horses
yourself?
A: Cerrone has been in partnership with Racing NSW for over 5 years as the exclusive designer of the trophies. We have created the one-of-a-kind trophies for The Championships and now, The Everest. I have always had some level of involvement within the racing industry. It has been fantastic to see Sydney Racing growing significantly over the years and with the launch of The Everest, has become a world class event that puts Sydney on the global map and is something for people to look forward to. Personally, I have always been as passionate about the horses. We actually own a number of retired racehorses who reside on our farm in the Southern Highlands.
Q. Everyone who has seen the trophy has said how beautiful it is. What is significant about the
design and the diamonds? What is unique about the trophy?
A: Thank you. We wanted to achieve something spectacular, representing the significance of The Everest as the world’s richest race on turn and what that means for Australian racing. The large trophy alone took over 900 hours to handcraft in our workshop and was designed in-secret over many months. It contains more than 8,000 diamonds with a value of $320,000. We used 570 carats of brilliant cut and black round diamonds, with two round rubies for the eyes, and set in 27kg of silver. My understanding is that this is the most expensive trophy ever designed for racing.
Q. Can you please tell us about your history with designing racing trophies in Australia?
A: In 2014, Cerrone was asked to design the trophies for the new jewel in the crown for Sydney Racing, The
Championships. The trophies include 2000 emeralds for the body of the racehorse – drawing inspiration from Sydney’s reputation as “The Emerald City”, 140 black diamonds were used on the mane and hooves, and rare pink
diamond eyes, which are from Australia’s Argyle Mine.Cerrone constantly strives to push the boundaries in design. We love to take on challenges and be recognized for our quality, unique work – from designing trophies to million dollar racing hat pieces and a chalice for Pope Benedict XVI - this is something I feel has helped differentiate us and attribute to our success over the last 45 years.
Q. And finally, who do you think will win this beautiful trophy?
A: I stick to spectating as am not much of a betting man – however there are some brilliant jockeys, trainers and horses confirmed. It will be a magnificent race !
Q. I understand that the Everest trophy has 7,777 individual black diamonds and 230 brilliant cut white diamonds. Are these natural black diamonds and can we get more information about the white diamonds? Have Argyle diamonds been used anywhere in the trophy?
A: They are indeed natural black diamonds. The hardest part was cutting such a large quantity of diamonds specially cut to fit the intricate design and shape of the trophy. The white diamonds too were of exceptional quality.
This interview was first published in Everest Diaries I (2017)