The 20.46-carat Okavango Blue, in a necklace by MessikaMessikaWith all eyes on Paris and the haute jewellery presentations next week, Messika is preparing to reveal a necklace featuring a notable blue diamond. The 20.46-carat Okavango Blue is the largest and rarest blue diamond to be unearthed in Botswana, according to the country’s government, which entrusted the stone to the family-owned French diamond jewelry house Messika. Nearly a year in the making, the necklace is a contemporary diamond rivière, with 500 white diamonds set into a v-line collar finished with the Okavango Blue. “I wanted nothing to compete with it, only to enhance it,” says Valerie Messika, Founder and Creative Director of Messika, who designed the fluid rivière to “draw the eye towards the blue diamond, while giving the impression that it’s floating freely against the skin. The Okavango Blue dictated every decision.”The Okavango Blue diamond as a rough diamond, pre the final cut and polish.MessikaThe diamond was originally unearthed at the Orapa Mine, an engine of Botswana’s diamond economy, which produces 10 million carats each year. It was mined as a 41.11 rough stone in May 2018 by the Botswana goverment-owned Okavango Diamond Company, and the cutting and polishing process began in December of the same year. By April 2019, the final stone went on show in Gabarone, graded as a type 11b Fancy Deep Blue, oval brilliant-cut VVS2 clarity, according to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).“The Okavango Blue is one of those stones that immediately commands your attention. It has an extraordinary depth of colour, an austral blue with subtle grey undertones that give it a unique, almost magnetic presence,” says Messika, daughter of the prominent French diamond dealer André Messika. She set up her luxury jewelry house in 2005, and has since become known for a minimalist aesthetic and innovative settings, with spectacular high jewelry creations which debut on the runway in Paris at her annual catwalk show.Play Puzzles & Games on ForbesThe Okavango Blue diamond after being cut and polishedMessikaSince being mined, the stone has been viewed as part of the country’s collective narrative. Botswana is an African diamond mining success story, where diamonds are a strategic national resource. Natural diamonds make up 80% of Botswana’s exports and Botswanamark™ is seen within the jewelry industry as a mark of transparency, ethics and responsibility. Diamond sales are tightly controlled by the government and mine operators in the country to ensure as much wealth as possible is is ploughed back into the country.Diamonds now represent 30% of Botswana’s GDP, a country transformed in recent years by the wealth of its diamond industry. Infrastructure, education, healthcare and utilities have all benefitted and Botswana is now viewed as one of the continent’s most stable and prosperous economies. More recently however, the rise in popularity of lab-grown diamonds, produced in factories and sold at 70-90% lower prices, has contributed to a drop in demand for natural diamonds.Valerie Messika with the models Anok Yai and Alton Mason, on the runway during the Messika jewelry runway show as part of Paris Fashion Week, October 03, 2025. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)Corbis via Getty ImagesWeaker demand coupled with the global luxury slowdown has hit Botswana hard, with rising unemployment, lower export revenues and an economic contraction in the country. The country is hitting back by extending agreements with industry partners and doubling down on the promotion of its own diamonds. "The Government of Botswana entrusted Messika with what is not only an exceptional diamond, but a true national treasure,” explains Messika. That is an immense honour and a responsibility I never took lightly. To celebrate one of its greatest geological treasures through contemporary High Jewelry felt deeply meaningful.”And what of the eventual wearer of the Okavango Blue? “The woman I imagined wearing it is someone who appreciates exceptional craftsmanship, but wears it naturally. She doesn't wear high jewelry to impress others... I wanted it to move with the body, to feel sensual, modern and effortless, rather than ceremonial.” A tale of power, femininity and the treasures of the earth.