Man-Made | Lab Grown Diamonds

It is cut like a diamond, sparkles like a diamond, and chemically is a diamond. However, it didn't take a billion years to form deep underground, but just a few months to grow in a laboratory. Welcome to an exciting newcomer to the gem world: the lab-grown. 

Its arrival is causing quite a buzz amongst consumers and, initially, some consternation in the deeply traditional diamond industry. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that there is space for the two in the world of precious gems, as they have very separate identities despite sharing the same carbon DNA. 

Natural diamonds have a billion-year history, and they don't make them anymore, which gives them a sentimental edge. Remember the famous slogan "diamonds are forever"? Well, for 500 years, these beauties have been a symbol of love and romance. Lab-grown diamonds, however, are young, and modern and appeal to a younger generation concerned about the past association of diamonds with war and corruption and who are attracted to the opportunities that good quality, sizeable gemstones and attractive pricing offer. 

Like natural diamonds, the lab-grown gemstones are judged for their colour, clarity, carat and cut - the four C's. However, the lab-grown diamond is priced for technology rather than its rarity. The advantage for the customer is that this technology is making diamond jewellery more accessible, with larger-sized gemstones such as a 1.5-carat ring available for approximately 40 per cent less than the rpice of a natural diamond. 

Weir & Sons have been keeping a watchful eye on the development of this high-tech gemstone, which was originally produced for rather unsexy industrial purposes in the 1950s in machines using high pressure and high temperatures to mimic what happens deep in the earth's mantle. Carbon atoms build in a matter of weeks, not millennia. Gem-quality stones started to emerge in the 1970s. A newer system called CVD (chemical vapour disposition) using carbon-rich gas is making larger diamonds of a higher quality than Weir & Sons is now using for engagement rings and bracelets as part of the lab-grown collection. 

To the naked eye, these lab-grown diamonds cannot be told apart from natural diamonds. However, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) certifies all precious gemstones is now giving them full certification and, to avoid confusion, each piece of jewellery is engraved with LG inscribed on the girdle to identify them as lab-grown. Such transparency is important to the integrity of the jewellery business and avoids consumer confusion. 

Early interest in the exciting newcomer came at a time in the early 2000s when the diamond industry was in a crisis. The 2006 film Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, raised awareness that some diamonds were mined in war zones and sold to finance conflict. However, the issue was being addressed before that, when the Kimberley Process was introduced in 2033 - a certification scheme to prevent "conflict diamonds" from entering the mainstream rough diamond market. Last year, the process was further strengthened with a system that tracks and certifies a diamond from the mine right through to the ring on your finger. 

Sustainability was another issue that hit its target with millenial customers. Here again, the diamond mining industry has made huge efforts to improve its reputation. The Diamond Producers Associations ( now the Natural Diamond Council) is formed of the world's seven leading diamond producers, who commissioned an independent report by Truscot, which was published last year, to shine light on the global imapct of modern diamond mining on the workforce, communities and the planet. 

The companies represent 75 per cent of the world's rough diamond mining across four continents, from Russia to Canada, Autralisa and the countries of southern Africa. Some interesting facts emerged. the mining companies employ more than 77,000 people, who earn 66 per cent more than the national average of their country, benefitting their local economies by $3.9 billion. $292 million is invested in education and healthcare. Eight-three per cent of water usuage in mining is recycled. If the complete footprint of these diamond mines were grouped together, the total 325 square miles is the size of New York City, yet the DPA members protect three times the amount of land that they use, restoring mined land and preserving wildlife. 

Livia Firth, co-founder of Eco-Age, the sustainable business consultancy, filmed a documentary on the Lucara mine in Botswana, which is a perfect example of the good that natural diamonds can bring including attacting more women into mining led by Lucara Botwana's female MD, Naseem Lahri. The socio-economic empowerment of Botswana went from the third poorest in Africa to becoming the most successful medium-sized economy, investing in a future for when the diamonds run out, as they will. According to the trade body, the World Diamond Council, there are ten million Africans whose income depends on the continuing passion for diamond jewellery. 

The key sources of lab-grown diamonds, meanwhile, are the USA, China, India and the UK, where Weir & Sons buy theirs. It is still niche, representing two per cent of the €87 billion diamond market, but our appetite for these gemstones is predicted to grow by ten per cent over the next ten years as we make space in our jewellery boxes for something that is perfect, but unconventional.