Chris Benham, winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year™ 2025 NZ Product Category
We are excited to announce that our Co-Director and Co-Founder of Floeting®, Chris Benham, has been named a category winner in the prestigious EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ awards.
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ is recognised as the world’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. Running in more than 145 cities across 60 countries, it has been part of New Zealand’s business landscape since 1998 and celebrates leaders who demonstrate entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, growth, and purpose. Past New Zealand winners have included some of the country’s most influential names, from Sir Richard Taylor (Weta Workshop) and Rod Drury (Xero) to Peter Beck (Rocket Lab) and Nick Mowbray (ZURU). Chris now joins that community of entrepreneurs making their mark on both New Zealand and the world.
Floeting® itself is a story of persistence and imagination. Chris co-founded Floeting® with Ian and Christine Douglas. Together, they spent 17 years developing a patented innovation that frees a diamond from the traditional claw and bezel setting, enabling the diamond to be incorporated into jewellery in a way that makes it appear to float. This allows the diamond to be experienced in its purest form. Manufactured in Wellington, Floeting® is now available in more than 50 countries, including through a partnership with one of the world’s most iconic luxury jewellers. The design has captured international attention: the Financial Times called it “gravity defying”, Rapaport described it as “unlocking new creative possibilities for visionary jewelry designers”, and Vogue France said the diamond appears “freed from all metal, shining as if suspended above the jewel.”
For Chris, this recognition is about more than awards. His broader purpose is to create pathways for New Zealand’s incredibly talented designers and showcase that creativity to the world. In the same way that Sir Peter Jackson and Sir Richard Taylor opened the world’s eyes to New Zealand’s film industry and created opportunities for a generation of creatives to work in their passion, Chris wants to do the same for jewellery. He hopes young designers in New Zealand’s schools will see that their work can inspire, bring beauty into the world, and have a lasting international impact.
Reflecting on the recognition, Chris said: “This award is really about our team and partners who believed a diamond could be set differently. Wellington is our home for design and making, and we’re excited to keep building from here. At the heart of it all is a sense of wondrous curiosity, the belief that if we ask bold questions and pursue them with determination, we can craft beautiful pieces for our clients and create beauty that inspires people around the world.”
As a category winner, Chris will now compete for the title of New Zealand EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™, with the chance to represent New Zealand on the global stage in Monaco. Whatever the outcome, this recognition places The Village Goldsmith and Floeting® at the heart of New Zealand’s entrepreneurial story, showing how creativity, craftsmanship, and determination from Wellington can inspire the world.
