Luxury Western Australian jewelry brand Linneys has created three golden quokka sculptures, covered in 3.39 carats of rare Argyle pink diamonds priced at over A$500,000 (US$345,000) each. The sculptures are a fusion of local icons: the quokka, Western Australia’s native fauna, exclusively found on Rottnest Island, and Argyle pink diamonds, among the last to be unearthed from the now-closed Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia’s remote East Kimberley region. When asked who the anticipated buyers of the three diamond-encrusted quokkas would be, Justin Linney, creative director at Linneys, told Inside Retail, “You just never know who’s in the luxury space.“Sometimes it’s who you’d least expect, but certainly your fine art collectors, watch and jewelry lovers — investors and people wanting a family heirloom or a piece of history.” Highlighting the one-of-a-kind nature of the sculptures, Linney said that it would be impossible “to source that volume of diamonds to make that piece again”.“We do expect international interest, certainly around Southeast Asia, because of the existing love for the Linneys and Argyle brands,” he said.“Gold is in the spotlight at the moment — being a go-to in terms of investment. We hope that at least one of the three quokkas is acquired by someone who keeps it in WA.”Based in Western Australia, Linneys is a renowned luxury jeweler that caters to a broad spectrum of customers from entry-level to high-fine jewelry, so the quokka sculptures make for an intricate marketing exercise.“In the luxury space, you don’t want to alienate top-end customers by your messaging to entry-level customers, it’s good fun and keeps us busy,” Linney said.Family businessEstablished in 1972 by Alan Linney, Linneys is a family-owned manufacturing jeweler with sons Troy and Justin Linney leading the business as the second generation.Linneys has three boutiques in Western Australia at Subiaco, Perth City and Crown Perth.The decision to commission only three quokka sculptures speaks to the brand’s ethos: “We don’t mass produce [or] wholesale to other jewelers and we always do a limited run, whether it’s a few of each design. People like that,” Linney said.“For a medium-sized business, we sit in the luxury space, but we don’t have the international luxury brand budget, so this was certainly a bit of a risk,” he said.Alan Linney was a goldsmith before founding the business. He discovered Broome pearls were all being sent overseas and sold as Japanese pearls, which inspired him to launch LInneys.“He pioneered showcasing these as Broome pearls rather than Japanese, and it’s scaled up from there to essentially being a brand that does blend art and design together,” Linney said.The quokka commissions are an expansion of the brand’s ethos in creating art that showcases its geographical roots.“This is different, really unique and a bit of a risk, but I think that is what has worked for us over the years, and we hope that it’s well received,” he said.Wearable artThe quokka objet d’art was crafted through the Argyle Mine’s Icon Partner Programme, which was set up with the Argyle Mine’s closure.Linneys’ collaboration and procurement of the diamonds dates back to the opening of the mine.The quokka comes with a detachable pendant and an 18-karat rose gold chain embellished with 0.62 carats of bezel-set white diamonds.“The wearable element with the necklace for the buyer allows interaction — not just admiration,” Linney said.Linneys has championed art, culture and craftsmanship through prior collections that promoted artists and had jewel and wearable elements.“We are trying to retain manufacturing locally rather than everything going overseas and trying to educate people about how important it is in the sector to have a local highly trained jeweler,” Linney said.“After many years with Linneys in our design team, there are a lot of things you learn about working with the pink diamonds — it’s better to set them in rose gold, and you need the contrast of color of the white diamond so you can appreciate the pink hue.”All considerations that have been crafted into the quokka.“It’s also got joy to it, that is what you want to achieve with jewelry – it’s about celebrating something and capturing a moment in time,” Linney added.Patrick Coppens, Rio Tinto Diamonds, sales and marketing general manager said, “As one of the very first luxury jewelers entrusted with Argyle Pink Diamonds, Linneys was the ideal partner for this one-of-a-kind collectible.”