A Short Introduction to Lab Grown Diamonds
One of the biggest trends in the diamond industry today is the rise of lab-grown diamonds. According to the BBC, when it comes to buying engagement rings, 70% of millennials opt for lab-grown rather than mined diamonds.
Clearly, lab-grown diamonds like moissanite jewelry are here to stay, and may in fact come to replace conventional diamonds in jewelry around the world. You can also select lab grown diamond engagement rings, which will give you elegant look and make your day more special.
This groundswell of interest in lab-grown diamonds is due to a variety of factors, but before we get into them it is perhaps necessary to explain what lab-grown diamonds are, and how they differ from mined diamonds or diamond simulants.
What are Lab-Grown Diamonds?
The answer to the question of what are lab grown diamonds is actually quite simple: they are diamonds that have been created using pressure and heat, the same way diamonds were formed in the earth’s crust hundreds of millions of years ago.
Diamonds are solid carbon formed into a specific kind of crystal structure. This happens when graphite, another form of solid carbon, is compacted and heated. Mined diamonds come from deep within the earth’s crust, beneath the continental plates, and are brought up to the surface through volcanic activity.
Unlike simulated diamonds or diamond alternatives like cubic zirconia or moissanite, lab-grown diamonds are compositionally identical to mined diamonds. In fact, all lab-grown diamonds start out from diamond “seeds”—fragments of existing diamond from which new diamonds are grown.
Though they are sometimes referred to as synthetic diamonds, cultured diamonds, or diamond alternatives, the only real difference between them and a mined diamond is origin.
Why Buy Lab-Grown Diamonds?
There are several benefits to buying lab-grown diamonds, but perhaps the most significant is environmental: even in regions where diamond mining doesn’t fund civil wars or involve questionable labor practices, it leaves a massive environmental footprint.
The open pit diamond mines of Canada, Russia, and Botswana consume huge amounts of fossil fuel energy, create massive amounts of waste, and can lead to the pollution of groundwater and health issues for local populations and Indigenous peoples.
Growing diamonds in a lab is an energy-intensive process, and while it is true that the heat and pressure needed to culture diamonds does not (for the most part) come from renewable sources today, they still create significantly less environmental disruption than their mined counterparts do, and in the future could very easily be run on renewables.
Due to the less resource-intensive process of bringing them to market, lab-grown diamonds cost less than mined diamonds, meaning you can get more carats for your money.
This means that if you want to get a beautiful diamond engagement ring but are also uncomfortable with the sourcing of mined diamonds and want to reduce your environmental footprint, lab-grown diamonds are the perfect alternative, and one that is being offered more and more by independent jewelers and custom engagement ring designers.
