18 RETAILER HALL OF FAME 2026 “I think the public was greatly misinformed by the lab-grown industry,” he says. “I think the greenwashing was a primary motivator for me to start advocating for natural diamonds. I watched it left and right, and then once I learned the story of Botswana, every time somebody put [natural diamonds] down, it made my skin crawl.” Sean began researching blockchain and keeping tabs on the development of Tracr, De Beers Group’s blockchain. He also had to get his team on board with championing natural diamonds. Sean and his employees spoke with veteran industry marketer Brandee Dallow about the vetting process for different De Beers suppliers. He sent the store’s art director and marketing director, who were adamantly team lab grown, to JCK Las Vegas to attend every education session they could and to interview people at the Angola pavilion and from De Beers. Sean also did research on Reddit, asking the Botswana sub-Reddit if diamonds truly do good for their communities, and had conversations on LinkedIn. “People would tell me, ‘Well, I’m in this posi- tion because I had a free education and we go to the best universities,’” says Sean, adding that ev- eryone talks about the technical side of diamond traceability, but the human side is important too. Sean then launched Single Source, J.R. Dunn’s own collection and its first step into tracing a dia- mond all the way back to its country of origin. He spent months creating cards for the store’s showcases that would allow consumers to access a diamond’s blockchain record via a QR code. “Then [De Beers’] Origin [program] comes out and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is exactly what I was trying to do but 10 times better.’ I was in, hook, line, and sinker. I knew they had their first customer,” Sean says. LinkedIn is where he met Ada Thela, founder and managing director of Zoë Diamonds. She was part of a youth empowerment program funded by Botswana’s Okavango Diamond Company, did an apprenticeship with WDM-Botswana, and opened her own diamond company in 2023, which employs Botswana locals. In fall 2025, Sean and Thela entered a rough diamond auction. Sean had to go through a grueling background check by Okavango Diamond Company before he could register as a buyer. “It was the craziest financial examination that I’ve ever gone through in my whole entire life. They wanted to know every bit of ownership structure, everything about me, everything about my business. I could not believe the vetting,” Sean says. “You don’t have to do any of that for a lab- grown diamond.” Sean and Thela won a 5.79-carat rough diamond. Zoë Diamonds cut and polished the rough into a 2.51-carat round brilliant diamond and set it in a ring. Sean explains, “She guided me every step of the way, showed me pictures of the rough, showed me what it was going to yield, told me it’s in GIA, and I was so focused on getting that one diamond.” The rough also yielded a 0.40-carat oval diamond that was set into a second ring, resulting in the “Two-From-One” ring set that debuted in June. “I wanted to design something that would be able to tell the story of Botswana and the bene- ficiaries,” says Sean, who aims to change the way natural diamonds are perceived and sold. The rings can symbolize a couple with one ring for each, one as an engagement ring and the other an anniversary present, or one as an engagement ring and the other saved as the first diamond for the couple’s first child. Sean notes that the story behind a piece is always about the couple more than it is about the diamond’s country of origin, but these two rings still convey a feel-good message and confidence in sourcing. “As someone who’s from a country that’s rich in natural diamonds and someone who has seen and encountered firsthand what they’ve done for our people, it’s only natural that I love and support what Sean does in terms of his advocacy,” Thela says. “The industry definitely needs more Sean Dunns, people who are not afraid to go against the grain.” –Ada Thela, Zoë Diamonds The J.R. Dunn x Zoë Diamonds “Two- From-One” ring set features a 2.51-carat round brilliant diamond and a 0.40-carat oval brilliant diamond sourced from Botswana and set in two 18-karat yellow gold rings with white gold prongs ($30,750). Continued on page 20 SEAN DUNN 2026 Inductee
View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.