Lab-Grown Diamonds Are Everywhere. This Company Thinks It Has the Secret to Making Them High-End
Since their widespread introduction to the market almost a decade in the past, lab-grown diamonds have carved out a considerable slice of the market. Business analyst Paul Zimnisky recently told the news agency AFP that lab-grown stones accounted for 18.5 % of diamond gross sales in 2023 and would exceed 20 % this yr. Maybe this isn’t stunning now that scientists can grow diamonds in just 150 minutes—quicker than you possibly can watch Oppenheimer.
Within the US, lab-grown diamonds had been forecast to surpass pure stones by way of items offered by the beginning of 2024. But on the identical time, their values have plummeted: the per-carat worth caved virtually 90 % within the 5 years to 2023, based on analyst Edahn Golan.
De Beers, which fiercely resisted the introduction of lab-grown stones however finally launched its personal vary referred to as Lightbox, slashed prices in May 2024 earlier than saying that it was closing down its lab-grown client vary totally in June, after six years, stating that the economics of lab-grown diamonds for jewellery had been not sustainable.
Certainly, the proliferation of lab-grown diamonds in worth factors that De Beers doesn’t wish to entertain maybe underlines the model’s choice to double down on costly mined gems. Pandora just lately launched a marketing campaign, fronted by Pamela Anderson, showcasing its lab-grown diamond assortment items beginning at less than $300.
Nevertheless, a lab-grown diamond can tackle shapes not normally potential from mined stones—one thing watchmaker TAG Heuer has exploited to nice impact with its Carrera Plasma one-off designs. They’re predictable, constant, and untroubled by the moral and environmental points that plague conventional diamond mining.
Their inflow has, anecdotally at the least, contributed to a rise in engagement-ring diamond sizes throughout the board, because the bigger sizes made potential by machine has pressured these buying pure stones to lift their carat sport. However they’ve a PR downside: Regardless of providing vastly improved worth and significantly better eco credentials, in the event that they turn out to be too low cost, lab-grown diamonds will lose their sparkle amongst consumers who wish to know {that a} image of affection got here at a significant value.
Now, lab-grown diamond jewelers are pivoting to a extra premium mannequin, searching for to ascertain differentiation throughout the lab-grown market and attraction to prospects’ higher nature in addition to their magpie instincts. And, for some, it is working.
