Sparkling reign of the Bling King

Pop star Nelly and jeweller to the stars, Jacob Arabo. Ray Tamarra / Getty Images

UNITED STATES - Maybe you've heard about Jacob the Jeweller - over the past decade the Uzbek-born, New York-based "King of Bling" has been name-checked by almost all of hip-hop's biggest stars.

"I took you outta Jacob's in clusters," rapped Jay-Z in Girl's Best Friend. "Busters, they wanted to rush us. Love the way you sparkle when the sun touch ya."

That was in 1999, and despite rumours bling is dead, Jacob Arabo remains first choice for the entertainment industry's flashiest stars.

While Arabo was put on the map by music icons from P Diddy to Missy Elliot, these days his best customers also come from the sports world.

One of his trinkets - okay, a unique white-gold watch with 28 carats of diamonds and rubies set in the pattern of a world map - was the single costliest item donated for auction at David and Victoria Beckham's much-hyped Full Length and Fabulous party this week.

"When they asked me to take part, David and Victoria didn't specify a value, but I wanted to go maximum."

The starting price was US$120,000 ($192,000) - a bargain in comparison to Arabo's most expensive item, the $1 million Royal watch.

"It doesn't get much better than that," says Arabo, weighing the 71-carat timepiece in his hand.

The England football captain requested to borrow it for the party, so Arabo brought it with him.

But Arabo's baubles didn't become celebrity favourites simply by virtue of being expensive. Cartier or Bulgari were already on hand to relieve the super-rich of their millions.

Arabo trampled over classic ideas of what was tasteful or pleasing - and his clients loved him for it.

He designs diamond-covered dice, or mobile phones. His love of outsized gewgaws, bright colours and more-is-more use of diamonds made for jewellery that stands out in music videos and paparazzi shots.

"My brand is fresh, new, cool - just happening. I just made a razor that was all [set with] diamonds. The latest one I did was an ice-cream cone, in diamonds. That was $180,000."

Arabo has also smothered a Rolls-Royce angel emblem with diamonds.

"The price was the same as for the whole car," he says, triumphantly. "We are the modern Faberge, you could say."

Arabo also takes credit for changing male attitudes to wearing diamonds. He thinks that his emphasis on platinum was a key factor. "About 10 years ago, I decided to switch all the jewellery to platinum. No more gold. Now, it's a mixture of metals, but that was the time when I gave men permission to wear diamond jewellery. "

Born in Tashkent, Arabo wanted to become a photographer. But he also had a talent for fixing his mother's and his four sisters' jewellery.

"We left when I was 14, in 1979, and 10 years later the Soviet government collapsed." "

Aged 16, he enrolled on a jewellery design course; he was so gifted, apparently, that his tutors urged him to set up his own business. Jacob & Co opened in 1986.

By the mid-1990s, clients including Whitney Houston and Mary J Blige were recommending Arabo to their friends. Then they started name-dropping him in their songs.

Each year, the brand strategy agency Agenda Inc ranks companies by the number of times they're mentioned in the lyrics of songs in Billboard's Top 20; in 2005, at position 31, Jacob clocked up 15 references, only 18 name-checks behind AK-47.

Despite a subtle dampening of enthusiasm among hip-hop stars for in-your-face jewels, Arabo insists that bling isn't over. "As long as I'm there, there's going to be bling."

A potentially more serious challenge to the business came last year when hip-hop's new superhero Kanye West began to rap about illicit diamond mining in African war zones. "Little was known of Sierra Leone/ And how it connect to the diamonds we own/ These ain't conflict diamonds, is they Jacob?" intones West in his remix of Diamonds from Sierra Leone.

Arabo's company website now states Jacob uses sound suppliers and has a "commitment to ethical sourcing of diamonds".

So what was Arabo himself planning to slip on his wrists for the Beckhams' party?

"I'll be wearing beautiful cufflinks and a very special watch, with diamonds on the case and more diamonds on the back.

"Well, there are going to be 500 people there," he says, lightly, "and I'm sure I'll know a lot of them."

- INDEPENDENT