Shiny things
Lab-grown diamonds are increasingly marketed to younger Americans as an ethically sourced alternative to traditional diamonds.
Jerry Singh started his search for a diamond ring with $5,000 and a link to his girlfriend’s Pinterest page.
“Honestly, I had no idea what to look for,” he said. “I was clueless.”
But the 30-year-old software developer quickly narrowed his search to labmade diamonds. His girlfriend had voiced concerns about “blood diamonds,” he said, and it was clear that his money would go a lot further if he opted for a gemstone that had been shaped over a few weeks in a lab instead of a billion years underground.
“I knew I was getting a lot more bang for my buck,” said Singh, who lives in New York. “When I saw the size and clarity of the diamond, I was sold.”
Lab-grown diamonds, which are quietly arriving in stores across the country, are increasingly mar- keted to younger Americans as an ethically sourced alternative to traditional diamonds. They cost about 20 percent less than mined diamonds and, according to experts, are indistinguishable to the naked eye. And yes, they sparkle. (All diamonds are made of just one element: carbon.)
“From our perspective, synthetic diamonds are diamonds,” said Stephen Morisseau, a spokesman for the Gemological Institute of America, a nonprofit organization that oversees the international diamond grading system. “They’re not fakes. They’re not cubic zirconias. They have all the same physical and chemical properties of a mined diamond.”
The introduction of the mass-market diamonds could have sweeping implications for the $80 billion industry, which for decades has relied on the perceived scarcity of the stone to drive up values. Sales of lab-made dia- monds, estimated to be about $150 million, could grow to $1.05 billion by 2020, according to a recent report by Morgan Stanley.
Jewelry manufacturers say they’re seeing dramatic growth. At least one jewelry manufacturer says its sales of lab-made diamonds are nearly doubling each month, as millennials in particular — a generation bogged down by stagnant wages and billions in student debt — opt for the lower-priced gemstones.
“Today’s generations are buying iPads over earrings,” said Amish Shah, president of R.A. Riam Group, a New York-based wholesale jeweler. “The lust for diamonds has gone down over the last 10 years, and we’re trying to get that back.”
Since 2012, Shah has invested tens of millions of dollars in technology to create gemstone-quality diamonds. His first line, ALTR, hit stores last summer and is now sold at more than 100 locations.
Other companies also have made forays into labmade gemstones. Diamond Foundry, a California-based company that counts the actor Leonardo DiCaprio among its investors, sells its wares at Barneys New York. MiaDonna, a jeweler based in Portland, Oregon, calls its products “eco diamonds” and uses recycled metals to create engagement rings, pendants and bracelets.
At Ada Diamonds, a Silicon Valley startup, shoppers can customize diamonds in a range of colors, including white, pink, gray and black. The company can also extract carbon from a personal memento — a bouquet of roses, say, or a Ph.D. dissertation — and “pressure-cook it into a diamond,” according to Jason Payne, who cofounded the company with his wife, Lindsay Reinsmit. Sales are expected to triple this year.
“There was definitely a time when retailers were very resistant to bringing these products into their stores,” Reinsmit said. “But it’s beginning to catch on.”
The jewelers are not above trash-talking the competition.
“These are,” Payne said, “a far superior good to dirt diamonds.”
Not all agree. Dino Pampillonia, co-owner of Pampillonia Jewelers in Northwest Washington, says he doesn’t — and won’t — carry lab-created diamonds.
“As far as I’m concerned, a diamond can’t be manmade,” he said. “The whole point is that they’re rare.”
As for Singh, the lovestruck software developer, he went online this summer and bought a ring with a 1.4carat lab-made diamond ($5,500). He proposed to his girlfriend the next day, backstage at a John Legend concert.
“She loved the ring,” he said.
And she said yes.