If we can make diamonds in a lab, why do people still want the real thing?

Apparently, lab-grown diamonds are having a moment.

Rather than mining a diamond that took millions of years to create, it is now possible to manufacture artificially lab-grown diamonds that look identical, with essentially equal optical, physical and chemical properties  Using a tiny sliver of real diamond as a carbon seed, and the right pressure, temperature and gasses in a plasma chamber, lab-grown diamonds can be created in just a few weeks.

Lab-grown diamonds are significantly cheaper (up to 70-90% cheaper - they are not, after all, rare), not to mention more environmentally- and politically-friendly in their production process (no "blood diamonds", no environmental degradation from mining operations, even though synthetic diamonds do require a lot of electricity to produce them). Jewellery giants like Pandora, Swarovski and even Prada are getting in on the act. 

Given that celebs like Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez and Pamela Anderson are buying them, so are lots of other people. Sales of lab-grown diamonds have increased exponentially in recent years: supply has doubled every other year since 2015. Lab-grown diamonds now make up at least 40% of the diamond market.

All of which begs the question: what is the value of a real, natural diamond? Is there anything about a natural diamond that can compel a customer to pay up to ten times more for it over an identical-looking lab-grown version? 

An increasing number of potential customers would tell you "no", but perhaps the main reason that many people continue to say "yes" is the way in which real diamonds keep, and even increase, their value (and their re-sale value). It is their rarity value itself that some people still covet. If you want a family heirloom that you can pass down to your kids and grandkids, a lab-grown gem will just not cut it. And, honestly, some people just like to spend money, and to be seen to spend money (think cars, houses, designer brand clothing).

And don't count the natural diamond industry out just yet. South African company De Beers has traditionally had a stranglehold over the industry, with an almost 90% market share throughout most of the 20th century. It almost singlehandedly created the global industry, with its clever and effective advertising campaigns ("a diamond is forever") and its ability to control supply (and therefore price). It was De Beers that first associated diamonds with love, romance and enduring commitment, a powerful marketing ploy that paid handsome dividends. 

But De Beers no longer enjoys the effective monopoly it once had, and it too decided to get involved in the artificial diamond industry back in the 2010s. In 2024, though, came the news that De Beers was sitting on a huge stockpile of unsold diamonds, valued at around $2 billion. Did the diamond market fall through, or was this just a period of market correction?

Interestingly, De Beers recently took the decision to end its short-lived lab-grown diamond company, Lightbox. As the cost (and value) of lab-grown diamonds continues to fall, De Beers has pledged to lean in to natural diamonds, creating meaningful pieces to celebrate key moments in people's lives, and relegating lab-grown gems to the more lowly function of costume jewellery. De Beers is once again turning its mighty marketing influence to re-establishing the dominance of natural diamonds in the jewellery market. And don't underestimate its ability to change the industry again.

Personally, I have never understood the attraction of jewellery and certainly not the attraction of spending large amounts of money on pieces that are identical to pieces of cut glass. But then, I am not De Beers' market.

Ultimately, it comes down to personal tastes (and money). Do you buy champagne over prosecco? Organic field tomatoes over greenhouse ones? Then you may well be the type to buy natural diamonds over synthetic ones. Horses for courses. Natural diamonds will probably never go out of style.