Recently a rare pink gem was unearthed in Angola, which turned out to be the largest diamond discovered in over three centuries and weighed, 170 carats, just under a pound. Until it is examined, polished, and cut in an exacting process that took hundreds of years to perfect, the stone while in the ground obviously had extraordinary potential before it finally met its ultimate geometric metamorphosis. The classic song lyrics of “Diamonds are Forever” come to mind, filled with clever metaphors and sexy innuendo, and Sean Connery in the background credits waving a gun, remain to this day one of the most memorable movie theme song soundtracks of all time. It also could be a highly appropriate theme song for renaissance man Scott Diament’s sparkling occupation over the last several decades as co-founder of Provident Jewelry, and he is now the owner and leading art fair director in America.
Mr. Diament was born in New York, though currently he lives in Palm Beach. Early in his illustrious career, Diament, which coincidently is the Polish word for diamond, opened a jewelry store in 1993 with his friend, Rob Samuels, which years later developed into an impressive number of stores in South Florida from Worth Avenue to Wellington. I guess you could say that Scott was in the “rough,” ready to be discovered and later self-polished into a brilliant and remarkably multifaceted successful businessman, which includes operating about a dozen art, antiques, jewelry, and design fairs from New York to Palm Beach to Los Angeles. The odds of someone managing a diamond store with a last name directly connected to their business are pretty big, but what’s intriguing, are other amazing ‘aptronyms,’ a term used for people whose names and occupations have a direct connection to their profession. Just for fun, here are some humorous notable examples: Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone; Sara Blizzard, meteorologist; Rosalind Brewer, former director of Coors Beer; Thomas Crapper, sanitary engineer; William Headline, Washington Bureau Chief for CNN; Chris Moneymaker, World Series of Poker champion; Larry Speakes, White House Press Secretary, not to mention Walter Washington, a former Mayor of Washington, D.C.
Just for a moment think how fascinating and coincidental it would be if Scott’s last name was “Showman,” for example since he now manages his group of remarkable art and design shows across the nation. But regardless of the coincidences of last names, Mr. Diament has made an international reputation for himself as a man who is full of promising ideas and recognizes new art-related opportunities, which he follows through to a productive finality. Thriving entrepreneurs, visionaries, and business tycoons have changed the way we live from Bill Gates to Henry Ford through pioneering out-of-the-box thinking, and that was the imaginative formula Diament utilized to become an innovator and leader in his field.
Nothing seems to slow down the consummate efficacious entrepreneur, Scott Diament, who travels over 150 days a year coast to coast to set up and supervise a dedicated crew of workers who only have a narrow window of time to take over an empty municipal convention center from scratch and miraculously turn it into a multilayered traveling museum of sorts in less than a week. A good example of Diament’s ingenuity is that he and his business partners have developed a revolutionary method of constructing hundreds of custom-made spaces that typically are demolished after each show, but here are adaptively reused and stored for the next venue. Diamond’s mantra seems to be that he is constantly looking to expand and improve upon the existing blueprint for success, and it shows.
January officially starts an ambitious social and event schedule for the Palm Beaches that doesn’t stop until mid-May. Among the most impressive and important are the art fairs presented at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, which bring in some of the best artworks from around the world. Art Palm Beach + Contemporary is the first major show out of the gate. Diament’s latest newsworthy business venture was acquiring this long-running art fair (founded in 1997), which will be dedicated to contemporary, emerging, and modern art. Diament has appointed Kassandra Voyagis as director, and she also serves as the current hot shot producer and director of the L. A. Art Show (also owned by Diament’s Palm Beach Show Group). Now the powerhouse combination of both prestigious fairs in a dynamic state-of-the-art bicoastal enterprise is offering serious art lovers, influencers, and trendsetters a unique opportunity to explore and discover an all-encompassing display of exciting artworks by emerging artists as well as modern and contemporary masterworks. All of Diament’s intuitive talents in organizing and attention to detail will be obvious in this not-to-be-missed first art fair of the winter season.
Art Palm Beach + Contemporary will be held at the Palm Beach County Convention Center from January 25 to 29, opening with a special VIP preview on January 25. For more information as well as tickets to the event go to: www.artpalmbeach.com
The Palm Beach Show will be held at the Palm Beach County Convention Center February 16-21, 2023, opening with a special VIP preview on February 16 hosting 130+ of the finest art, antiques, jewelry & design exhibitors. For more information as well as tickets to the event go to: www.palmbeachshow.com
The Palm Beach Fine Craft Show will be held at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in the 2nd Floor Ballroom February 17-19, 2023, featuring almost 80 fine craft artists representing a cross-selection of handmade ceramics, wearables, jewelry, woodwork, and more. For more information as well as tickets to the event go to www.palmbeachfinecraft.com
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Bruce Helander is an artist who writes about art. His reviews have been published in ARTnews, The Huffington Post, and Forbes, among others. He is the former Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Rhode Island School of Design. He is a former White House Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, and a member of the prestigious Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
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