Bling-bling king

Chris Aire, impeccably hip in a pinstripe suit, black shirt and chunks of his own jewelry, sits at his glass-top desk, two stacked televisions mounted overhead. But don't expect ESPN or MTV to be blaring, not that Aire isn't a sports or music-loving man. In fact, most of his high-profile celebrity clients come from these worlds. Instead, playing on the screens captured by 32 security cameras in his 12th-floor office digs in downtown L.A. are the goings-on in his office, where he and a crew of 20 are making his custom-designed urban jewelry that can best be described with words borrowed from the hip-hop-loving nation: bling-bling.

As in razzle-dazzle.

Security matters when you're known as the Iceman, the designer behind pricey diamond-loaded creations worn by rappers, athletes and movie stars, including Oscar's golden couple Halle Berry and Denzel Washington. Other wearers: Angela Bassett, Donald Trump, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Eminem, Gary Payton and Allen Iverson, and, come Jan. 24, the National Football League's man of the year, who will be given one of Aire's signature watches to donate to his favorite charity. In the spring, Saks Fifth Avenue will stock that item -- the Traveler Watch -- the price of which will range from $6,500 to $125,000, depending on the level of flash one seeks: a single or double row of diamonds, sapphires or rubies or the whole works.

"Chris' jewelry is flashy but not gaudy," says Kenny Smith, formerly of the Houston Rockets and co-host of TNT's weekly program, "Inside the NBA." "You know, he does things that would look good on any rapper and any rapper's mother."

But, mostly it's athletes he has locked up, claiming "the majority of the NBA are my clients." His most recent high-profile item: the wedding ring for the newly hitched Shaquille O'Neal. It's a stunning size 16 (think napkin holder), adorned with 192 princess-cut diamonds, wrapped around the band in six stacked rows.

For rapper Brian "Baby" Williams, he designed a $2.1-million necklace adorned with mega bling-bling on Aire's signature Red Gold -- an amber hue achieved by mixing red alloys with gold. Williams wore the piece on the cover of last month's Source magazine, a copy of which the rap artist autographed for Aire and is now part of the designer's collection of customer mementos -- signed footballs, basketballs, baseballs, jerseys, boxing gloves and photos. A photo from actress Berry sits next to one of Aire's wife, Diana, and their two children.