Almasika

Almasika

Catherine Sarr founded Almasika in January 2014 and debuted it at Colette in Paris, after more than a decade in the diamond and fine-jewellery industry including several years at De Beers and at LoveGold. The name joins almasi, Swahili for diamond, with sika, a word for gold across several West African languages.

Jewelry

The cowrie shell is the house signature, and the first collection, Le Cauri Endiamanté, set it in gold and diamonds. The shell carries meanings of abundance and spirituality across West Africa, and Sarr has built a decade of work on reinterpreting that symbolism rather than abandoning it after one season. She was born in France to parents from Benin.

More Jewelry

She came to design from the commercial side, spending years in marketing and communications inside the diamond trade at De Beers Group and at LoveGold for the World Gold Council. That background explains why the brand landed at Net-a-Porter, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Moda Operandi relatively quickly. In 2025 she opened a showroom and boutique in Hinsdale, Illinois, and co-founded the Prix Sarr at the Beaux-Arts de Paris with her husband.

Our honest take

Sarr has been made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and pieces have reportedly been worn by Michelle Obama, Alicia Keys and Priyanka Chopra, though the wearer claims come from a single profile rather than red-carpet press. Buy the cowrie, in whatever form, because that is the idea the house actually owns. The plainer diamond pieces are well made and less distinctive.