[BDI] 2015 for Global Diamond Industry – A Collection of Articles on Major Events that shaped the industry

Lab-grown diamonds: More acceptance, more success

Meanwhile, Lab-grown diamond sector is meeting with more acceptance among consumers and retailers alike. More jewelry retailers are now selling Lab-grown diamonds. Scio Diamond Technology – a major Lab-grown diamond producer, is now selling its diamonds at US’s 4th largest jewelry retailer – Helzberg Diamonds. Scio has also collaborated with Renaissance Diamonds Inc., which cuts & polishes diamonds, to sell its polished Lab-grown diamonds to jewelry retailers through a JV – Renaissance Created Diamonds. (See ‘Jewelry retailers are increasingly selling Lab- grown Diamonds’, Pg. 57)

Several other reputed retailers/ brands including Brilliant Earth, Mia Donna, Robbins Brothers, Rebel Chique Diamonds (by Royal Asscher) et al are already selling Lab- grown diamonds. Besides, various jewelry e-tailers including Sam’s Club are also selling Lab-grown diamonds online.

Though smaller size of Lab-grown diamonds was a challenge earlier, New Diamond Technology LLC crossed the 10 carat milestone by growing a 10.02 carat Type IIa VS1 IGI-certified diamond, beating the previous record of 3.04 carats set by Pure Grown Diamonds. (See ‘Lab-grown Diamond Industry crosses 10 Carat Milestone’, Pg. 59)

As technology improves, Lab-grown diamonds production becomes more viable and beneficial not only for gems & jewelry purpose but for various scientific and industrial applications.

IIa Technologies inaugurated the world’s largest diamond greenhouse – a 200,000 Sq. Ft. Lab-grown diamond growing facility in Singapore and also established a Center of Excellence (CoE) – a diamond research center to generate and disseminate scientific knowledge and information.

The company already has R&D collaboration with Cornell University, Rutgers University, IIT – Bombay and MoUs with Nanyang Technological University and NUS. (See ‘Largest Diamond Greenhouse inaugurated in Singapore’, Pg. 61)

Seeing the promising future of Lab-grown diamonds, Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio along with 10 Silicon Valley billionaires invested in a California based Lab- grown diamond startup – Diamond Foundry. Its other eminent investors include Twitter founder Evan Williams, SUN Mircosystems founder Andreas Bechtolsheim, Facebook cofounder Andrew McCollum et al. (See ‘Leonardo DiCaprio bets on Lab- With demand expected to rise by 25-30% YoY, Lab-grown diamonds are having more grown Diamonds’, Pg. 63) acceptance and more success.

Read full report 2015-for-Global-Diamond-Industry

Source: betterdiamondinitiative.org