In a world where luxury is synonymous with rarity and exclusivity, and where authenticity brings with it cachet and a hefty price tag, the diamond industry found itself at something of an inflection point a few years ago with the introduction of lab-grown diamonds. All of a sudden it became possible for customers to buy a piece of diamond jewellery at between 30 and 40 percent of the price of a natural diamond piece. A one carat diamond ring could suddenly be turned into a rather impressive-looking three carat ring – and the idea of extra bling became alluring to some.
But there will always be more to the diamond story. As with all things luxury, it’s one thing owning something that looks like the real thing; it’s quite another owning the real thing. And after an initial flurry and talk of a new generation embracing the “green” credentials of lab-grown diamonds, a quiet resurgence in the appeal of natural stones has swept through the discerning luxury community.
It comes as the concept of quiet luxury – and an acknowledgement of authenticity, craft, and quality as the only true hallmarks of luxury – drives the choices of a newly discerning consumer.
The movement back to natural gems has prompted diamond giant De Beers to dust off their iconic “Diamonds are forever” slogan, and leading jewellery houses are saying that a lab-grown diamond just does not hold the same romance as the real thing. And after testing the lab-grown market for six years – and seeing the price of the lab-grown gems plummet – De Beers has announced that they are abandoning the Lightbox lab-grown gem brand and will only be producing lab diamonds for industrial use. During this period, the world’s leading jewellery houses and designers never quite made the shift to lab-grown diamonds.
De Beers renewed marketing drive must also surely be driven by recent reports that the diamond business around the world is in turmoil – China’s luxury market is not what it used to be and diamonds are not fetching the same high prices they did in the past.
But in the world of fine jewellery, diamond jewellery continues to find its place. De Beers has launched its own jewellery line and houses like Graff, Bvlgari, and Cartier woo luxury shoppers with extraordinary high jewellery diamond collections each year.
Locally, South African jeweller Kirsten Goss says she will always choose the best-quality natural diamonds for her collections. Reflecting this drive towards quality, Kirsten has recently made the decision to elevate the jewellery brand to a higher level, as the demand for fine jewellery amongst her clients has grown.
Having studied gemology and the natural process that creates diamonds, Kirsten herself says the bug bit her “on a romantic level”. And while many of her clients are on the same wavelength, she says she will never judge a client who requests a lab-grown diamond for a custom design. “Some people are just not connected to the story, and the size of their diamond is their priority. I can understand that,” she says.
It all comes down to how it makes you feel. Kirsten likes to remind her clients that diamond jewellery is not an investment that is going to grow in value – unless you buy a very rare coloured stone. “You do something because it makes you feel great. It’s a totally subjective decision,” she says.
To the naked eye, it’s impossible to tell the difference between a natural and lab-grown diamond. With a loop, an expert can read the serial number on the stone and know immediately, but for many, buying true luxury is not merely a transaction, it’s a statement of values.
The story of natural diamonds, forged over billions of years beneath the earth’s crust, carries an unmatched romance. No other luxury story can compare to the stone’s geological miracle as well as the story of human endeavour: from where diamonds are mined in remote deserts to the cutting wheels of Antwerp in Belgium.
But as much of the world acknowledges, a diamond’s rarity is not just a matter of supply (because, frankly, no-one knows how many diamonds there are in the world), but mostly of magic. That alchemy of time and pressure can never be created in a laboratory.
By contrast, lab-grown diamonds are acknowledged to be a feat of chemical ingenuity. What they lack in provenance, they reclaim in price: offering the buyer an impressive stone for a fraction of the cost. Natural diamonds, with their microscopic inclusions, bear the marks of their natural journey. Lab-grown stones are engineered for perfection and can boast flawless clarity and colour on demand.
The marketing stories are also worlds apart. Words such as romance, eternity, and heirlooms will always appeal to the sentimentalist, whereas the lab-grown narrative talks about a modern way of thinking, with words like innovation, sustainability, ethics, and value for the price conscious buyer. Detractors argue lab diamonds lack the emotional je ne sais quoi of the real thing, branding them as mere imitators. Advocates counter that their accessibility democratises luxury, unshackling it from the world of exclusivity.
South Africa’s State Diamond Trader, Nosiphiwo Mzamo, promotes beneficiation of natural diamonds and the transformation of the local diamond industry, and she says the organisation is making strides in growing this market. Production in South Africa has declined in recent years due to regulatory hurdles that are not faced by other producers like Botswana, but the State Diamond Trader is lobbying to change this so that local diamonds can be competitive when it comes to pricing.
Nosiphiwo is growing the South African diamond jewellery industry by facilitating the training of jewellery designers, diamond cutters and polishers, and making diamonds available to local jewellers. She says aspects that will drive a growth in South African diamond jewellery sales is sentiment as well as the fact that natural diamonds do so much good by benefiting communities in terms of jobs.
The market for lab-grown diamonds in South Africa is currently sitting at five percent, and the emotional connection to natural diamonds is still strong. “If someone proposes to you with a lab-grown diamond, how much can he really love you,” Nosiphiwo quips.
Inevitably it all comes down to personal choice. If pragmatism and a price tag guide you, lab-grown stones will be your first choice and what you save in buying a lab-grown gem can be channelled into other luxuries. If your heart beats for tradition and the poetry of owning a stone that has existed for centuries under the earth – nothing can replace a natural diamond.
