Lab Grown Diamonds

Why Lab Grown?

Our decision to use lab-grown gemstones in a lot of our collections lies in our desire to reduce our impact on our planet. Since lab-grown diamonds are formed in a lab, there is far less surrounding environmental damage involved. Mining for diamonds can require deforestation, leading to surface water and groundwater contamination and more, cultivated diamonds are created in a controlled environment, often with sustainable measures in place. Lab-grown is by no means carbon-neutral, and our ambitions are a work in process. However, we will repay our carbon emissions through programs with Ofstrom Climate whilst we lead to our own lab where we can be fully carbon neutral.

You can also be super creative with the cut and shapes. The world is your creative oyster. We love having fun with our clients that come to us with bespoke requests.

What are Lab Grown Diamonds?

Lab grown diamonds are grown in highly controlled laboratory environments using advanced technological processes that duplicate the conditions under which diamonds naturally develop when they form in the mantle, beneath the Earth’s crust. These lab created diamonds consist of actual carbon atoms arranged in the characteristic diamond crystal structure. Since they are made of the same material as natural diamonds, they exhibit the same optical and chemical properties.

How Are Lab Grown Diamonds Made?

There are two primary methods of producing lab diamonds:

1. High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT): This method mimics the conditions under which natural diamonds are formed inside the earth. To produce the lab diamond, a large machine is fed a certain amount of carbon material that it then crushes under pressures of more than 870,000 lbs. per square inch at extreme temperatures ranging from 1300 – 1600 degrees Celsius.
2. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD): CVD is when a seed diamond is placed in a small, vacuum chamber filled with heated hydrogen and carbon-containing gasses. At a certain temperature, the gas molecules are broken down and layers of crystallized carbon begin to form around the seed, growing a more substantial diamond. Some lab diamonds created through CVD may also undergo pressure and heat treatment after they are grown.

You can’t tell the difference between natural diamonds, lab diamonds grown via HPHT method, and lab diamonds grown via CVD method with the naked eye, only scientists can distinguish the differences by analyzing identifying markers caused by the growth conditions.

We love lab diamonds, and hope you will too. We of course continue to offer natural vintage diamonds for special collections and one-off pieces along with lab in our main collections, should you have a preference.