A Royal Experience
Since i started working for Royal Coster Diamonds i have been amazed by its traditional roots. In a world where i was used to working for fast, young start-ups trying to ‘revolutionize’ any market they set foot in, here i was walking around 4 monumental villa’s where people are just working hard every day to simply turn rough stones to beautiful diamonds. Just like the men and women who did the same before them. No tricks, no api´s to connect to or buzzwords to learn; just a lot of skill and a passion for perfection.
When I came on board i was ready to do the same ‘tricks’ i was used to do. But being confronted with this way of working i could not just turn things upside down and change their entire world. It would be counterproductive and actually quite offensive to the men and women who have been doing so well for so long. So i decided to focus on what this company does best: service & traditional craftsmanship.
It’s no rocket science: we are the most reliable diamond retailer in the world. We have been for the last 175 years. We served queens, sheikhs, generals, heads of state and emperors. From Empress Sisi to the Viceroy of China. Now, in the age of internet we still cling to our quality and are living proof that quality always wins. In fact, 350.000 people a year visit us to see how we do what we do so well.
So i thought that we should not try to modernize our image but rather emphasize our heritage. And one of the ways to do so is to bring the history back.
The first time i heard about the history of Royal Coster it was through Master Polisher Pauline Willemse. She not only holds the the guinness book world record on smallest cut brilliant but is also very involved in the history and legacy of Royal Coster Diamonds. She showed me a lot about the evolution of the diamond craft.
Early in my career -after i laid out the plans of our new roadmap- at Royal Coster my CEO said he wanted a crest. It fit perfectly with our strategy of emphasis on traditional craftsmanship but I didn’t know how to begin and there were more pressing matters so…i put it on hold. Then when we got the Royal title in 2016 from King Willem-Alexander, he said it again. He wanted a crest. So after still kind of delaying it for some months (i have a lot on my plate, man!) i was going to Paris and when i told him casually once he caught me off guard and asked me if i wanted to visit the grave of our founding father: Mr. Martin Coster. He would think it would be a great kick start to creation of the crest. Just being there would maybe inspire me. And hopefully without sounding too spiritual i have to say, it made quite an impact on me and my family and definitely gave the inspiration to get it done.
Martin Coster.
Martin Coster was the son of Mozes Elias Coster. We don´t know exactly when Mozes founded Coster Diamonds but the oldest papers we have is the transfer of ownership from Mozes to his son, Martin. And we know, that while Mozes was a true craftsman, it was Martin who really made the company great. This is why he went on to become Consul General for The Netherlands in Paris, hence his grave there.
Anyway, fresh out of Disneyland with the wife & kids we still had the disney music ringing in our minds when we entered this immensely large and impressive grave site located in the heart of MontMartre in Paris.
I am ´used´ to dutch graves. Very neatly organized. This was far from it. It was a mix of immensely large tombs and small headstones. It was hugely impressive and made us all -even my kids- walk around with a sense of respect for these people and what they achieved in their lifetime.
From Wikipedia we knew that his grave was supposed to be in ‘District 3’. I believe it was a Jewish part because there were a lot of menorah’s and stars of David. And after searching for 40 minutes we finally found it. Close to the outer wall in a very poorly maintained area in which his grave looked the best by far. The grave of mr. Martin Coster.
There were a few things that i noticed and made an impression. 1. It was maintained very well. Besides a big dripping area below the main face, it didn’t have big cracks, like most graves surrounding him and it felt like it was cleaned not too long ago.
But the main thing i noticed is that everything i loved working at Royal Coster is depicted in the headstone.
The beaver stands for hard work and strong work ethics. This is how we still work. We don´t complain (much :)) but we just get the job done. It may not be the most efficient way or the most advanced way, but it is always way witgh the best quality results and always the most reliable.
The motto mr. Coster has is still how we work today: HONESTAS OPTIMA POLITIA. It translated to “Honesty is the Best Policy”. And in any business, but especially in the diamond industry, this is by far the very best way to handle yourself and your business.
Back in the Netherlands i contacted the best designer i knew (Tamer) to turn this into a crest. He usually understands me faster than anybody and this time it was no different. Within a few days he, myself and our CEO’s mr. Kees Noomen & Dr. Errol Hotie combined our Royal Status with elements most dear to our hearts and heritage and came up with our new company crest.
The outlines you see above were done relatively fast. it was the inside we had some issues with. There are so many aspects we wanted to put in. We wanted our buildings, a diamond loupe, and the most discussion we had about wanting to include a bat to pay our respects to another hugely important former CEO. But we finally came to terms and we settled on something we feel is stunning and -more importantly- fits the company perfectly.
So today, I finally and very proudly present to the world: the Royal Coster Diamonds Crest.
It has everything we feel is most important. The beaver as a sign of strong work ethics, the motto that says honestly is the best policy and the city of Amsterdam which has been our proud home since our birth.
We use this crest mainly in the colors listed above, but of course we have some alterations.
And naturally now the path is open for renders and textures that make this crest even more beautiful than we could have designed it.
We are quite happy with the results and look forward in implementing this throughout our branding in the coming period with our entire team. This has been a team effort and i am very proud of the synergy we created. We hope you like it as well.
Feel free to let me know your thoughts!
