BREAKING NEWS: things that were once found only in nature can now be synthesized by humans! RUN... DON'T WALK... to your nearest web browser in frantic search of "the truth" about mining vs. lab-creating!
REMAIN CALM... AND YOU MIGHT SURVIVE!
---> Music cue: dramatic up-tempo tuneless 8-bar vamp <---
Okay, enough of that. The emergence and apparent popularity of lab-created diamonds is definitely cause for industry-wide conversation, if not some of the more hyperbolic commentary I've read in recent comment sections.
We now know that lab-created diamond companies aren't kidding around. We know that some companies want to harness this force for evil, some for good, and many for profit.
We also should have predicted that the development, production, expansion, and marketing of this product would happen very quickly (which it did) and that it would reverberate through the industry like a Tibetan mountain gong (felt, rather than heard).
I actually received a handful of messages today from non-industry folks, asking for my opinion on the matter and offering up their own (one notable quotable: "now that Leo won gold, will he bedazzle the trophy in his fake glitter?"). After carefully explaining the differences between "synthetic" and "simulant," I asked for honest opinions about giving or receiving lab-created diamonds. I also asked if they held the same thoughts about their own jewelry as they would that of friends, colleagues, or family members.
Here are their summarized answers, paraphrased and used with permission:
Friend A: I don't even like synthetic fabrics, so why would I want synthetic diamonds when I can afford the real thing? None of my friends are engaged or close to it, but I hope they insist on the real deal.
Friend B: Well, I guess if they're basically the same thing, then what's the difference? It's not like it's an inferior diamond, it just didn't kill children and the environment to get here. It probably end up like the drug industry though, won't it, where generics are just as good and cost less, but some doctors are paid by the name brand and won't write prescriptions for anything else?
Friend C: Ew. I don't like diamonds at all anyway, and I would never want one for my ring.
Friend D: My center stone is a moissanite, but that's because I didn't want a blood diamond and didn't trust any of the stores around here not to have them. If I'd known about lab diamonds, I might have asked for one.
Friend E: Maybe for earrings or something, if it's cheaper, sure why not. But for something more important/meaningful like an engagement ring, no way. Test tube babies are still humans, but isn't trying the natural way first better?
Well, aside from learning a lot more about these their real feelings on things other than diamonds, it was a pretty illuminating set of discussions. The most interesting part? All 5 of these responses are from women between the ages of 25-35. Yes, even evil genius friend B over there, drawing functionally accurate parallels between big pharma and big D. Smart cookie, huh?
As for my own opinions, I prefer to dig a little deeper. The jewelry industry as a whole reacts poorly to change, and adding lab-grown diamonds to the mix of lab-grown colored gems might feel like a step too far for some. The mined diamond industry is certainly feeling the pinch these days, so from their perspective, timing couldn't be worse.
As you might have guessed by now, I'm not really a flag-waving traditionalist. I think that lab-created anything, sold and marketed with total transparency and accurate information, is perfectly good and healthy and legal. I myself have educated my clients about lab-created colored gems, and they have purchased from me in full knowledge of precisely what they bought.
The romantic in me shudders at the thought of a master gemcutter plying his or her trade with rough that did not come from the earth, passing through the hands of expert dealers and feeding the economies of local governments. The cultural connection I so cherish disappears, and for that reason, I am not personally inclined to seek out non-mined gemstones or diamonds.
Like any ethical jeweler, I abhor the use of marketing or sales tactics that attempt to cloud the truth and shade the facts in order to generate buzz (and therefore, sales). I successfully sold cultured pearls, heat-treated sapphires, and SI2 diamonds for exactly what they are, and never once did I need to resort to used-car-salesman tactics to do so. I see absolutely no reason why the emergence of yet another technological advancement should be met with anything less than our highest standards, as we do what we do best: serve the client.
Now I'm throwing the doors of discussion wide open: what do you think?