NEW YORK, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- While lab-grown diamonds have been around since the 1950s, they have increased in popularity in the past five years and now make up an estimated nearly 20 percent of the global diamond jewelry market by value sold, according to diamond industry analyst Paul Zimnisky.
They're typically much cheaper than natural stones, according to data from jewelry analytics company Tenoris, and consumers are attracted to those lower price tags. They also offer an alternative to mined diamonds, which have come under ethical scrutiny.
The surge of consumer interest has created "a lot more competition" in the lab-grown-diamond field, said Anna-Mieke Anderson, founder of lab-grown-diamond company MiaDonna. The gems so closely mimic natural stones that the Federal Trade Commission changed its jewelry guide in 2018 to strike the word "natural" from its diamond definition. It takes special equipment to spot the difference.
Diamonds are collections of carbon atoms that have typically been exposed to high pressure and high temperatures, which cause them to bond and form a crystalline structure. In nature, Earth does this under its surface. In the lab, the reactor helps get carbon atoms to collect on the seeds. The method Clarity employs uses much lower pressure, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
To the naked eye, the lab-grown diamond looks identical to a natural stone. GIA, an education and standards nonprofit founded in 1931, uses the same criteria to grade both kinds of stones, said chief laboratory and research officer Tom Moses. Natural diamonds often have a different growth structure. They also may have trace amounts of nitrogen trapped inside. ■
