Guilt free diamonds
We only use created diamonds for our jewelry. These are made in laboratory yet they have all the same physical and chemical properties of a mined diamond.
The only thing that makes a lab-created diamond different from a natural diamond is its origin. A lab-created diamond is “grown” inside a lab using cutting-edge technology that replicates the natural diamond growing process. The result is a man-made diamond that is chemically, physically, and optically the same as those grown beneath the Earth’s surface.
Lab-created diamonds are not fake. They’re not cubic zirconias. They have all the same physical and chemical properties of a mined diamond.
SO IS A LAB GROWN DIAMOND A REAL DIAMOND? YES!
Ethical
Several years ago, the mined diamond industry came under scrutiny with unethical production practices were exposed. These diamonds, sometimes referred to as blood or conflict diamonds, were funding violence and exploiting miners and their families. Thanks to the Kimberley Process, established in 2003, these unethical practices have been significantly reduced. But all in all, mined diamonds result in 1 injury for every 1,000 workers annually, while lab-grown diamonds result in zero. If avoiding conflict or blood diamonds is important to you, lab-created diamonds provide peace a mind that a natural diamond often cannot, and you may find reassurance in knowing the exact origin of your diamond.
Environmentally kind
As with the mining of any natural resource, the diamond mining has a significant impact on the environment. For every carat of diamond that is mined, nearly 10 m2 of land is disturbed and almost 2800 kg of mineral waste is created.
However, lab-created diamonds are inherently and significantly less detrimental to the environment as it takes considerably less energy to grow a diamond in a lab than it does to dig it out of the ground. In fact, it is actually in the interest of the growers to minimize the amount of energy they use in the process to save money and decrease their costs.
Price
Mined diamonds and lab-created diamonds have the exact same costs when it comes to cutting, polishing, and inspection. However, up to that point, the costs and processes are very different.
Mined diamonds have a long supply chain. To get a diamond from its raw form to a retail-ready gemstone requires miners, distributors, cutters, polishers, jewelry manufacturers, and retailers.
The lab-created diamond supply chain is much shorter by skipping the mining process. To put it simply, a lab-created diamond touches fewer hands, making it ultimately up to 20% less expensive than mined diamonds.
Lab grown diamond grading
Lab-created diamonds are graded and certified using the same process as mined diamonds.
Diamonds are sent to a gem lab that specializes in grading diamonds. The majority of these labs grade using the 4c’s (cut, clarity, color, and carat). This process is designed to provide each diamond with an unbiased grade.
For our jewelry we use SI1 quality diamonds. Diamond clarity grades describe the size, number, and significance of the imperfections that exist inside a diamond (inclusions) as well as blemishes that appear on the diamonds surface. Some diamonds are completely flawless inside and out (FL clarity, meaning flawless) while others are completely flawless on the inside but have some minor imperfections on the outside of the stone from the cutting and polishing process (IF clarity, meaning internally flawless).
A step down are the Very Very Slightly included diamonds (VVS1 and VVS2 clarity diamonds), followed by the Very Slightly Included diamonds (VS1 and VS2 clarity). For all of the diamond clarity grades mentioned thus far, the imperfections should only be visible under 10x magnification.
SI1 clarity means "Slightly Included 1", and is one of the most popular diamond clarity grades chosen for engagement rings and most other jewelry purchases. SI1 clarity diamonds are less expensive than VS2 clarity diamonds, but can still appear flawless to the naked eye. This perfect appearance despite the presence of some minor inclusions is what jewelers refer to as "eye clean", meaning it looks clean without the help of magnification.
While these diamonds are not considered “flawless”, the inclusions present within them can be small enough that they will not be visible to the naked eye.