by eClarity | Jun 1, 2020 | Uncategorized
Article by The Knot:
“Celebrities Who’ve Worn Lab-Grown Diamonds, Including Engagement Rings”
https://www.theknot.com/content/celebrities-who-wear-lab-grown-diamonds
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What is a lab-grown diamond?
Lab-grown diamonds are physically, chemically and optically the same as a mined diamond. Advanced technology allows jewelers to mimic the exact environment underneath the earth’s crust where diamonds are naturally formed. With a combination of high pressure and high temperature or through the use of a chemical vapor deposition, lab-created diamonds are produced in a fraction of the time it takes for a natural diamond to grow.
Can you see the difference between a lab-grown diamond and a mined diamond?
Once created, jewelers cut and polish lab-grown diamonds as they would with any other diamond mined from the earth. This process results in two stones that look identical.
Are lab-grown diamonds eco-friendly?
Reports show that the creation process still leaves a carbon footprint as with anything expending energy. The same is applicable to mined diamonds, which drill into the earth. While the diamond industry is overwhelmingly committed to ethically-sourced gemstones, lab-created jewels ensure a conflict-free production process. As lab-grown diamonds become mainstream, more celebrities are starting to wear the trending jewels on the red carpet—many of whom are eco-friendly activists and human rights advocates. Below, see the stars who’ve worn lab-grown diamonds, including engagement rings.
Bindi Irwin
Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, got engaged to longtime boyfriend Chandler Powell in July 2019, and the conservationist’s ring paid homage to her history of environmental work. She shared the news of the proposal on Instagram, along with the details of her lab-created diamond ring. “For those wondering about my ring, I’m so happy to share,” she wrote. “My ring features a lab-grown diamond and is made with rose gold recycled metal. Chandler was incredibly thoughtful when he chose it, the ring captures the essence of who I am (with its vintage flare) and our life together, with the twisted band and scattered diamonds.”
Nikki Reed
Actors Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder confirmed their engagement in February 2015, just six months after they began dating. While the Twilight actress’s first engagement ring didn’t feature a lab-grown diamond, she told The Knot that she plans to redesign her jewel with a synthetic stone. “When we were getting engaged, cultivated diamonds hadn’t really hit the market in the way that we are now,” she said. “Interestingly enough, I have such a wonderful, sweet, open-minded husband who’s fully on board with me, at some point, redesigning my ring with a cultivated diamond.
She did, however, launch her own jewelry brand, Bayou With Love, which features a bridal line of jewels made with recycled gold and cultivated diamonds. “One thing that I definitely came across with my mission of creating sustainable goods was the misconception that sustainability and luxury can’t live together,” she explained. “I felt like creating jewelry with all of this recycled gold was the perfect opportunity to look that right in the face.”
Penelope Cruz
Perhaps one of the most vocal advocates for lab-grown diamonds, actress Penelope Cruz joined forces with Atelier Swarovski to create a collection of synthetic, red-carpet ready jewels which she debuted at the 71st Cannes Film Festival in May 2018. “To think that I am making something responsible, beautiful and empowering for women to wear is very emotional for me,” she said in a statement. Her collection includes a variety of necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings. In addition to lab-grown diamonds, her designs also include synthetic sapphires and rubies. Celebrities like Zendaya, Karlie Kloss, Laura Dern, Mandy Moore and Olivia Palermo have all worn pieces from Cruz’s collection on the red carpet.
Meghan Markle
In January 2019, the Duchess of Sussex attended an event in London and accessorized her outfit with a pair of lab-created diamond earrings from Kimai, a Dutch jewelry company based in Belgium. The brand exclusively creates jewelry with lab-grown diamonds and further carries out their sustainable mission by packing all pieces in recyclable materials.
Leonardo DiCaprio
While he has yet to be spotted wearing lab-grown diamonds, Leonardo DiCaprio has become one of the biggest investors in the synthetic jewelry industry. After starring in the film Blood Diamond in 2006, a fictional thriller about the dangers of the diamond mining industry, DiCaprio became a vocal advocate for ethically sourced stones. In 2015, he invested in Diamond Foundry Inc., a San Francisco-based company that uses solar technology to produce lab-grown diamonds.
Lady Gaga
When Lady Gaga attended the London premiere of A Star is Born in September 2018, she stepped onto the red carpet in a Victorian-inspired Alexander McQueen gown, complete with a ruffled collar and beaded corset. To complete the showstopping look, she wore a pair of ethically-sourced cluster earrings from London-based jewelry designer Anabela Chan. Each Constellation Pearl Earring is made with three freshwater pearls and nine brilliant-cut lab-grown diamonds.
Emma Watson
Actress and activist Emma Watson made a statement with her jewelry at the 2018 Academy Awards. When the Harry Potter star attended the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty, she wore a variety of ethically-sourced and lab-created accessories. Her Vrai & Oro earrings were made from lab-grown diamonds and recycled gold. She also showed off a recycled gold sapphire cuff from Ana Katarina as well as a responsibly-sourced bracelet and ring from Ana Khour.
Camila Mendes
In November 2018, Riverdale actress Camila Mendes attend the People’s Choice Awards wearing the “American Beauty”: a 5-carat lab-gown pink diamond set on a 14-carat gold band. Created by Clean Origin, this synthetic jewel was a one-of-a-kind design that sold for $175,000.
Zoe Kravitz
The theme for the 2019 Met Gala was “camp,” an aesthetic that inspires exaggeration, theatricality and extravagance. Zoe Kravitz enhanced her thematic outfit—a sequined black dress with strategically placed cutouts—with a pair of dazzling earrings from Anabela Chan. The statement jewels featured a feathered design accented by pearls and lab-grown diamonds.
by eClarity | May 11, 2020 | Uncategorized
Article by China Daily:
“Lab-grown diamonds shaking up the industry”
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201910/05/WS5d97ff68a310cf3e3556ed43.html
Young consumers in China are taking a growing interest in cheaper, more accessible alternatives to mined gems
It sparkles and shines like a diamond from the Earth’s mantle, but it’s grown in a laboratory.
Lab-grown diamonds, which have been used for industrial purposes for decades, are now shaking up the $87 billion consumer market as cheaper alternatives to mined gem stones.
It sparkles and shines like a diamond from the Earth’s mantle, but it’s grown in a laboratory.
Lab-grown diamonds, which have been used for industrial purposes for decades, are now shaking up the $87 billion consumer market as cheaper alternatives to mined gem stones.
Replicating the process of how mined diamonds are formed, labs today use two major processes to grow diamonds – tigh pressure/high temperature (HP/HT) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD), both of which are used to create an environment of extremely high pressure and temperature.
“Most industrial applications of lab diamonds are associated with their hardness, a characteristic that makes diamond an ideal material for cutting tools,” said Han Xiaoping, chief researcher at industry and energy website china5e.com.
“More recently, many institutions and companies have started to consider diamonds for use in computer chips, satellites, and even 5G networks as they can be used in extreme environments. Nano diamonds, or diamonds with a size below 1 micrometer, also have the potential to operate at higher speeds while using less power than the silicon-based chips,” Han said.
For years, lab-grown diamonds were commonly used in industries related to high-end manufacturing.
“Yet with technological advancements, many labs are now able to create gem-quality diamonds at lower costs,” said Sun Lihua, a geologist at the Gem Appraisal Center of Peking University, China’s leading institute that offers diamond grading services.
“Rapid technological improvements have allowed many Chinese labs to eliminate the presence of other elements that impact diamond quality, such as nitrogen molecules that make the stone look yellow and reduce its value,” Sun said.
The cost of growing lab diamonds has also dropped by up to 90 percent in the past 10 years, according to a report from business analysis website ifanr.com.
Today, the cost of making a lab diamond is about 30 percent lower than that involved in mining a gem of similar size and quality, said Li Zheng, research manager at market research provider Leadleo Research Institute.
“Meanwhile, the time it takes to grow a 1-carat diamond is now five to eight days, much shorter than the time it takes to create a mined diamond, which can take billions of years to form,” said Tang Bin, deputy director of the Gem Appraisal Center of Peking University.
“Aside from the fact that lab-grown diamonds are created artificially, rather than discovered under the Earth’s surface, they are the same in terms of their physical and chemical characteristics,” Tang said.
Cheaper, better, and more accessible – all these characteristics are making lab-grown diamonds a popular alternative to mined gems.
Although the consumer market for lab diamonds is only worth $150 million, taking up about 2 percent of the consumer market for all diamonds, industry predictions show it is expected to grow at 22 percent each year and reach $14.9 billion by 2035, taking up about 5 percent of the consumer market for all diamonds.
In 2018, De Beers, the world’s largest diamond miner, launched its lab-grown diamond line Lightbox Jewelry. It charges about $800 for a 1-carat lab-grown diamond, which is much cheaper compared with $8,000 for a mined diamond.
Media reports said the move was to address a sales slump in mined diamonds as the industry struggles with economic uncertainties and the rise of lab-grown diamonds. Media reports show that sales of rough diamonds plummeted 44 percent to $280 million in the last week of August, compared with $503 million in the same period a year ago.
Lab-grown diamonds are also becoming more popular in China.
“With the post-1980 and post-1990 generations emerging as a major buying power, lab-grown diamonds used in jewelry will see an increasing presence,” Li said.
According to Li, more consumers born in the 80s, 90s, and even millennials, are turning to lab-grown diamonds as they are cheaper than mined gems of similar quality, and marketed as eco-friendly and ethically sourced.
“Consumers from those generations are increasingly conscious of the environmental and ethical impact of their purchases, such as whether workers are fairly paid and the work is done in safe and environmentally friendly conditions, things that large corporations often fall short on despite promising to adhere to strict ethical and environmental standards,” said Tang of the Gem Appraisal Center of Peking University.
Despite claims of lab-grown diamonds being eco-friendly, a report from Trucost, an analysis company under S&P Global, challenged this view. It pointed out that making and polishing a 1-carat diamond can produce about 511 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent compared with 160 kilograms for a mined gem.
However, the report was supported by the Diamond Producers Association, an organization formed by seven of the world’s leading diamond companies.
“Even if that were true, it is worth noting that most chemical waste from producing lab-grown diamonds can be further managed within the lab. But for mined diamonds, it is another story,” Tang said.
In China, where 90 percent of the world’s lab-grown diamonds are produced, diamonds grown for the consumer market take up 3 percent of the total diamond market, according to a report from the Lead-Leo Research Institute.
Today, China makes 56 percent of the world’s gem-quality lab-grown diamonds, outpacing India in second place, according to a report from South China Morning Post.
“The number is growing. Spurred by technological advancement and rising consumer demand, an increasing number of diamond labs in China are eyeing the consumer market by offering inexpensive products to a wider consumer basis,” said Li.
Paul Zimnisky, a New York-based independent diamond market analyst, told South China Morning Post that “Chinese producers have been upgrading existing equipment to produce larger, better-quality synthetic diamonds for use as jewellery. China already has the infrastructure in place which allows for high production scalability of higher-quality synthetic diamonds.”
Zimnisky also told Xinhua News Agency: “If even a fraction of Chinese production is upgraded to jewelry-quality diamonds, it would have a significant impact on the global supply.”
China’s major diamond producers, Zhengzhou Sino-Crystal Diamond Co Ltd and ZhongNan Diamond Co Ltd, are planning to produce lab-grown diamonds for jewelry lines, in addition to those for industrial purposes.
Henan-based Zhengzhou Sino-Crystal Diamond, whose lab-grown diamonds are widely used in the aerospace and equipment manufacturing industries, increased its investment in R&D by 14.4 percent to 535.2 billion yuan ($75.2 billion) last year.
The increased investment was to develop artificial intelligence in manufacturing, and to tap China’s growing consumer market for jewelry lab-grown diamonds.
The company said in recent interviews that its technological advancements in diamond making, refining, and polishing, as well as its equipment, have allowed it to produce gem-quality diamonds in white, pink and blue.
General Manager Liu Yongqi said in previous interviews that the company is positive about the consumer market for lab-grown diamonds, and that it had attracted an investment of 4.57 billion yuan for its gem-quality lab-gown diamond project earlier in 2016.
Another leading diamond producer ZhongNan Diamond, also showcased its gem-quality lab-grown diamonds at a recent industry forum.
“Despite efforts from various entities, the development of China’s consumer market for lab-grown diamonds is still at an early stage,” said Li from the Leadleo Research Institute.
“There are still a lot of questions. For example, how do you grade the quality of a lab-grown diamond and set a price for it?”
Currently in China, mined diamonds are graded by carat, cut, color and clarity. But scales to evaluate a lab diamond’s quality and value have not yet been set.
Although the globally acknowledged Gemological Institute of America has started issuing certificates for lab-grown diamonds, it only specifies that they are lab-grown without specific grades, Li said.
“Besides, some diamond retailers have been known to sell lab-grown diamonds at the prices of mined diamonds without telling consumers. This will have a negative effect on the industry. Industry standards and regulations are needed for the industry’s long-term development,” said Tang of the Gem Appraisal Center of Peking University.
In July, the Gems and Jewelry Trade Association of China launched a sub-association for lab-grown diamonds, a step that was considered significant for the development of the industry in China.
“Spurred by technological advancement and rising consumer demand, the industry is developing rapidly. Going forward, the industry will see improved regulations and supervision with the establishment of associations and institutes,” Tang said.
by eClarity | May 4, 2020 | Uncategorized
Article by Better Diamond Initiative: “Facts about Lab-grown Diamonds you need to know”
https://betterdiamondinitiative.org/facts-lab-grown-diamonds-need-know/
Facts about Lab-grown Diamonds you need to know
Lab-grown Diamonds (also incorrectly referred as ‘Synthetic’ diamonds) are one of the most promising developments the global diamond industry has seen since the last discovery of a diamond mine in 1980s. Unfortunately, a lot of real facts about Lab-grown Diamonds are miscommunicated and misrepresented in the industry due to its perceived threat as an alternative to Earth-mined diamonds.
Some of the key facts about Lab-grown diamonds are:
- Lab-grown diamonds are neither synthetic nor fake nor artificial. On the contrary, they are real diamonds grown from a diamond seed
- Lab-grown diamonds are identical to Earth-mined diamonds in every aspect – physically, chemically and optically
- Lab-grown diamonds are getting increasingly popular in the US followed by centres in the east and Europe, as a new choice of diamonds and a source of conflict free, ethical and eco-friendly diamonds
- Many leading brands, globally, including Pure Grown Diamonds, Mia Donna, Robbins Brothers, Brilliant Earth et al sell Lab-grown diamonds
Since some time now, we have conducted several in-depth factual studies and published several posts on Lab-grown Diamonds. We’ve developed a new webpage on our portal – ‘Diamond Comparison’ consolidating all our studies, analysis and findings. This webpage is a one-stop knowledge bank on everything about Lab-grown diamonds and contains detailed comparisons between Lab-grown diamonds and Earth-mined diamonds. An educational repertoire, the ‘Diamond Comparison’ is a user-friendly dynamic and responsive webpage, which will run as a permanent feature apart from the ‘Lab-grown’ category on our portal, which will continue to host latest posts on news and developments about Lab-grown diamonds.
‘Diamond Comparison’ details all the facts about Lab-grown diamonds and compares them to Earth-mined diamonds in terms of their production process, basic facts, industry advantages, environmental impact, physical properties etc. and details each of the comparison sub-parameters bringing out the global reports, studies and insights.
