Bahrain: A $2 million diamond-studded guitar was the glittering showpiece at the official opening of Jewellery Arabia 2015 yesterday.
Held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the five-day exhibition is being held at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre (BIECC) in Sanabis.
The Premier took a three-hour tour of the exhibition, visiting various pavilions and company stands, as well as being briefed on the extra-special guitar by its maker Aaron Shum Group president Aaron Shum.
“This guitar has 400 carats of diamonds, 1.6kg of gold and took 68 people two months to make,” Mr Shum told the GDN.
Record
“We got the Guinness World Record for most valuable guitar at Baselworld Watch and Jewellery Show in March this year in Switzerland.
“It was made toward the end of 2014 and the beginning of this year, after we became the first Hong Kong or Chinese company to be accepted into Hall 1 of Baselworld.
“We were the newest and smallest company there, so we wanted to do something big and gain attention, so we made this guitar and got the world record at the fair.
“We thought a guitar would be great because it matched with jewellery and music – and that artists would love to take photos with it and play with it.
“We had Jermaine Jackson from the Jackson Five play it in Hyde Park to an audience of 40,000.”
Meanwhile, Bahrain Jewellery Centre marketing manager Joursvad Abdulhamed revealed that his company’s pavilion was the largest it has ever been this year.
“We have 40 companies over 1,200 square metres, with companies such as Patek Philippe, Tiffany, Piaget and Hublot,” he said.
“Our most expensive piece is a $1 million Hublot diamond watch.
“The exhibition is important for us because it’s the largest one in the region and we’ve taken part for 24 years.
“The companies send their representatives here to show unique pieces themselves.”
&uuid=(email))