Diamonds are considered as the ultimate symbol of love, the most perfect of stones, formed in the earth’s core over millions of years and no doubt girl’s best friend. De Beers, the South African company that controls two-thirds of the world’s rough diamonds introduced- ‘A Diamond is Forever,’ the success of this campaign considerably increased the demand for the gems.
Everyone wish to have diamond according to their tastes and at cheaper rates. Now this is possible with the lab-grown stones. And instead of the millions of years it takes to create natural diamonds, they’re grown by man in a matter of days. Gem-quality diamonds are now being grown in laboratories in places like Sarasota, Fla., and Boston. Forget cubic zirconia and Moissanite.
Recent technological advancements and social awareness are changing people’s vision regarding the diamonds. Bill Pearlman, president of Adia Diamonds, says “the fact that lab-grown diamonds don’t come from a mine is of growing importance to a more environmentally and socially aware segment of the luxury jewelry market.”
Adia Diamonds is a leading producer of laboratory-grown diamonds and is the first and only company to bring laboratory-created, non-treated, fancy blue and colorless white diamonds to the luxury jewelry market. These diamonds are physically, chemically and optically alike mined diamonds. The GIA announced they will begin grading laboratory-grown diamonds in 2007.
A company called Gemesis in Sarasota, Fla., is growing a gem-quality, 2.8-carat rough yellow diamond in just three-and-a-half days. According to Robert Chodelka, Gemesis’ vice president for technology, ‘Naturally occurring fancy-colored diamonds–yellows, blues, pinks, and reds–are very rare and thus very valuable. A Gemesis-created yellow fancy-colored diamond–visibly indistinguishable from a natural one, even to a trained gemologist–can be purchased for about $4,000 per carat. That’s about 30% less than the price of a natural diamond of similar color and quality.
Even the Gemological Institute of America, the foremost diamond research and grading body, acknowledges that these are diamonds. “To say it’s not diamond is really false,” says William Boyajian, gemologist and GIA president. “It’s just man-made diamond.”
Lab-grown diamonds are still a little part of the diamond market. “You could go into 1,000 stores and the jeweler probably wouldn’t have one and may not have ever seen one,” says Boyajian. Consumers will probably pay 30% less than mined diamonds. And these diamonds are conflict free diamonds as pictured in the film ‘Blood Diamond,’ starring Leonardo Di Caprio.
Lab-diamonds also have virtually no impact on the environment, whereas diamond that are mined typically remove 275 tons of ore to produce a one-carat gem quality polished diamond. This material is removed through an open cast strip-mining method, which destroys ecosystems and the environment in the process.
