Diamonds

Lab grown Diamonds

Synthetic diamonds are created in one of two ways. One mimics the way that natural diamonds are formed geologically: by applying extreme pressure and temperature to a vacuum chamber containing carbon, this dissolves to form diamond ‘seeds’. Rather than taking a billion years, this process takes 4 weeks, after which the stones are ready to be cut and polished. Another method is not dissimilar to 3D printing, whereby pieces of carbon are layered on a diamond seed in a vacuum chamber.

Cultured diamonds should not be confused with cubic zirconia and moissanite, which look similar to diamonds but are known as simulants. Simulants fetch much lower prices than man-made diamonds because they are not true carbon crystals and therefore do not possess the same physical or chemical properties as diamonds.

The benefits of buying a man-made diamond

The methods used to bring a stone to life are kinder to the planet than the scale of the mining involved to source a natural diamond, which incurs masses of air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.

Then there is the traceability of a stone. At Steven Stone we only ever deal with natural diamonds that have a conflict-free guarantee. But with lab-grown stones there is never any need to question this, as their production involves a workforce of technicians as opposed to miners, meaning much greater transparency around working practices and conditions.

The differences between lab grown diamonds and natural diamonds?

Mined diamonds and lab-grown diamonds possess the same physical properties. Any differences are only visible under the scrutiny of a gemmologist using specialist equipment. The main point of difference is their provenance, in that natural diamonds are mined from the ground, and synthetic are produced in laboratories.