Naama Barak
August 11, 2020

If you’re getting bored of the plain blue facemasks that have become such a large part of our lives thanks to the coronavirus crisis, you could always consider jazzing things up a little and opting for silk scarves, eco-friendly reusable cloth or simply studding them more than 3,000 little diamonds.

That’s what one undisclosed businessman has chosen to do, commissioning veteran Israeli jeweler Yvel to create him an 18-karat-gold facemask encrusted with 3,600 natural diamonds. Weighing 270 grams and costing $1.5 million, it’s simultaneously the most expensive and one of the least comfortable masks in the world.

Luckily for the buyer, a Chinese businessman living in the United States, he doesn’t actually intend on wearing it. Instead, he commissioned it as a showpiece to help Yvel weather these difficult times.

The facemask is being put into place and studded with more 3,000 diamonds. Photo courtesy of Yvel Studio

“The mask is a mask that was commissioned by one of the company’s most veteran customers these past few decades as a collector’s item in order to create work for Yvel’s 150 workers in Israel and the United States,” explains Sharon Caro, Yvel’s chief marketing officer.

“To us, it’s a piece of art. It’s true that it meets all the standards of the American FDA and the standards of the European Union, but the mask is a type of jewel,” she adds.

“When a global pandemic breaks out, the first thing that people give up is luxury jewelry,” Caro says, adding that the factory just outside Jerusalem was forced to shut down n March. Most of its workers are now back, and the others are expected to join again.

The mask is a four-month job and is set to be ready by the end of October.

“Thanks to clients with whom we cultivated relations over the decades we received a few orders that helped us bring people back to the factory and that’s what is helping us keep our head above the water. The facemask is one of those things,” she concludes.

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