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December 2019

Didier Frediani

  • The beauty of gemstones
  • “Today, more than 1500 jewellers come to us for their precious stones...”

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“Today, more than 1500 jewellers come to us for their precious stones...”

Stepping into Frediani the jeweller is a quantum leap in time. A stone’s throw from Nice’s Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, the precious and coloured gemstones here recount natural history going back several tens or even hundreds of millions of years. Rubies, emeralds, tanzanites, spinels and natural zircons displaying their finery in jewellery created by the Nice firm based in Rue Defly for four generations. “When they come into our shop and discover our showcases, some customers fall for a particular stone but prefer a different setting; we create a piece of jewellery combining both preferences accordingly,” explains Didier Frediani. ‘’Martine and Adeline still work to this day at my grandfather’s workbench, sat on his stool, using some of the tools that once belonged to him.’’
Yes indeed, this family passion was born in Eugène Frediani’s era. The man to whom precious stone dealers brought their finds, and who other jewellers in the region came to see when looking for fine gemstones, treasures he stored meticulously in his drawers. His son Jean-Claude, when he arrived in the business, began travelling extensively to India, Thailand and Brazil. An expert in gemmology, he would himself buy rare, original and intriguing gemstone varieties locally. The idea is quite simple: to be able to offer customers all types of stones at the best price. “We have been in the trading business for 25 years. Today, more than 1500 jewellers come to us for their precious stones,” adds Didier. On Rue Defly, in the authentic atmosphere of his jewellery shop, he likes to introduce you to his craft, pink, orange, blue and purple sapphires, as well as uncut stones still to be faceted, without neglecting the opals, turquoises, aquamarines, labradorites and even meteorite fragments. A wonderful human and mineral adventure, that his son Tom has recently joined.

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