If you’re looking at engagement rings, commitment rings or are perhaps looking to have a bespoke piece of jewellery made to commemorate a special occasion, you may well already have come across ‘lab grown’ diamonds. If you have you probably think they are a new thing, maybe even a fad, but the truth is they were first created in the 1940s!
Not to be confused with ‘synthetic’ diamonds, lab grown diamonds are real diamonds, with identical composition and qualities to their earth-mind counterparts. Chemically, visually and physically identical to a naturally formed stone, the lab grown diamond is fast becoming a popular choice for today’s ecological and ethically aware customer.
How is a lab grown diamond made?
Following decades of research, experimentation and technological advances, man has successfully recreated the conditions that occur at the earth’s core and can now make the highest quality diamonds in a matter of weeks…as opposed to the millions of years it takes for natural diamonds to form.
What are the advantages?
Diamond mining inevitably involves land excavation and a high volume of man hours, energy and water – the process is long and costly making the end product an expensive luxury. The process of creating lab grown diamonds has no impact on the land whatsoever, the supply chain is shorter and the manufacturing process is more cost effective, making lab grown diamonds, on average, 23-30% cheaper than earth-mined stones. Then of course there is the environmental and ethical impact – diamond mining can be a dirty business on so many levels.
Of course they’re not for everyone. For some, the fact that their sparkly stone evolved from a piece of coal, over millions of years, is the very thing that makes it special. For others though, lab grown diamonds are a real alternative and definitely worth considering.
We have reliable sources for both naturally-mined and lab grown diamonds, all fully traceable and certified…it’s simply a matter of choice and the choice is all yours.
