Lab grown diamonds are real diamonds that have been grown with scientific processes in special laboratory conditions. For all intents and purposes, they are the same as mined diamonds. The two main differences between natural and lab-grown diamonds are that they are grown, not mined, and are generally much less expensive than their mined counterparts. The best lab-grown diamonds are equivalent to some of the highest quality stones that have ever been mined.
Mined diamonds are naturally formed gemstones created over millions of years deep within the Earth.
Carbon exposed to extreme heat and pressure crystallizes into diamonds, which are then brought closer to the surface by volcanic activity. Extracting these diamonds requires intensive mining processes, which can be costly and hazardous. Valued for their rarity and natural origin, mined diamonds symbolize tradition and luxury. At The Grown Jewels, our mined diamonds are ethically sourced, meeting high standards for environmental responsibility and fair labor practices, reflecting Earth’s unique beauty and offering a rich history to cherish.
Lab-grown diamonds are crafted in advanced labs using technology that replicates the natural diamond formation process.
Composed of the same carbon atoms, they exhibit identical chemical, physical, and optical properties to mined diamonds, making them virtually indistinguishable. What sets lab-grown diamonds apart is their ethical and sustainable origin, avoiding the environmental and ethical issues of mining. They are also more affordable, offering the same brilliance and durability at a lower cost. At The Grown Jewels, we embrace lab-grown diamonds as the future of fine jewelry—beautiful, responsible, and accessible.
The Grown Jewels only sells human-created diamonds that are grown in laboratories around the world. We publicly (and proudly) disclose that all of our gemstones are not of natural origin or extracted from the Earth, but are instead created and cultured by scientists in sophisticated laboratories.
Every, The Grown Jewels, Diamond larger than 1/2 carat is graded by an independent gemological laboratory that specializes in testing and grading diamonds, both mined and grown. These laboratories are located in Antwerp, Hong Kong, or the United States. Every larger diamond that The Grown Jewels sells is permanently laser inscribed on the girdle with a unique identifier and the words 'lab created'. When your The Grown Jewels Diamond(s) are delivered to you, you will also receive the grading certificate(s) of your diamond(s). These unique identifiers can be referenced on the independent laboratory's website at any time.
The mined diamond industry is quite worried about undisclosed lab diamonds being mixed into parcels of mined diamonds by unethical actors. The Grown Jewels shares their concerns and publicly commits to support efforts to avoid mixing mined and made diamonds.
The Grown Jewels has the opposite concern of the mining industry. While we are certain that our larger diamonds are of laboratory origin, we worry that smaller mined diamonds could end up in parcels of grown diamonds that we purchase from our suppliers, but we make every effort to ensure that even our smallest diamonds of 0.005 carats are lab grown.
Because a laboratory-grown diamond is structurally and chemically indistinguishable from a mined diamond (a crystal made up of carbon atoms in a cubic structure), a gemologist or jeweler cannot tell the difference between a diamond that is grown in a lab and a mined diamond with natural light, traditional tools, or magnification.
The easiest way to identify a laboratory-grown diamond from a mined diamond is that it is too uniform and too pure to be of subterranean origin. There are scientific tools that can detect when a diamond was not created in the chaos below the Earth: high-end laboratory microscopes with specialized ultraviolet light, polar filters, and trace element detectors.
At The Grown Jewels Diamonds, we use the exact same detection tools that the mined diamond industry is using to ensure that no unethical actors mix mined diamonds into any of our supply chains.
How Are Lab Grown Diamonds Made?
A lab created diamond is made using processes that replicate ways diamonds are created in nature, or at least are believed to form. The two most common methods are HPHT and CVD.
HPHT stands for High Pressure, High Temperature, and refers to one common method for lab-grown diamond production.
It was the first method created for lab-grown diamond production and is based on the natural forces that produce diamonds within the earth.
In the HPHT process, extreme pressure and immense heat are focused onto a piece of raw carbon inside a cubic presIn the HPHT process, extreme pressure and immense heat are focused onto a piece of raw carbon inside a cubic press. Inside this raw carbon, which can be graphite, a seed diamond has been placed. The seed may be from a mined diamond, or from a previously grown lab diamond. om a previously grown lab diamond.
Over several weeks the pressure and heat force the atoms in the raw carbon to separate and rebond, crystallizing on the seed diamond and continuing its tetrahedral structure of atoms, forming a new diamond crystal.
CVD stands for Chemical Vapor Deposition and refers to another common method of lab-grown diamond production.
In CVD production, a diamond seed (either from a mined diamond or a lab diamond) is placed in a vacuum chamber where carbon-rich gas (such as methane or carbon dioxide) is bombarded with microwaves. As the bonds holding the carbon atoms together in the gas are broken, they fall like snow onto the diamond seed and crystallize, continuing its tetrahedral atomic structure.
Once the diamond has grown inside an HPHT cubic press or CVD growing chamber, it is processed almost exactly the same as a natural diamond. It is cut and polished into a shape that will optimize its optical properties, and then sold to a wholesaler and later a retailer. Finally, a jeweler places it in an engagement ring or other fine jewelry.
The best lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds with the same physical, chemical and optical properties as natural diamonds. When polished and cut, they are impossible to distinguish from mined diamonds with the naked eye.
The purpose and main goal of the lab grown diamond industry is not to grow diamond gemstones. The main purpose of the lab diamond industry is for high tech applications of diamonds such as laser lenses, surgical knives, water purification devices, high pressure anvils, semi-conductors, and more.
The price of each of these functional diamonds is more than the prices of a diamond gemstone of the same size. Thus, only grown diamonds that are not perfect enough for high tech applications are cut and polished and sold to consumers as gemstones.
When you purchase a lab grown diamond, you are investing in the future of humanity. Your purchase of a lab grown diamond directly funds research and development efforts to improve the use and efficiency of lab diamonds in the next generation of technological advancement and achievement.
The best lab-grown diamond jewelry are conflict-free, and are made without child or forced labor. They do not contribute to the global supply of blood diamonds and conflict stones that go on the market despite the Kimberley process.
Lab-created diamonds, on the whole, have a slightly lesser environmental impact than mined diamonds, though very few can reliably claim to have zero emissions.
The most valuable way in which they are environmentally friendly is that laboratories displace a fraction of the land, and use much less water to make the best lab-grown diamonds than is displaced and used by diamond mines.
Future use of diamonds in technological applications will increase our energy efficiency and may reduce our dependence on various mined minerals, particularly silicon.
Optically, physically and chemically identical, lab diamonds sparkle, shine and gleam exactly as natural diamonds do. The best lab-grown diamonds are beautiful for the same reasons natural diamonds are beautiful. When you buy lab-grown jewelry, you are buying diamonds that offer the same properties of a mined diamond.
The best lab-grown diamonds represent at most 10% of the diamonds on the market, making them as rare as ethically and sustainably produced mined diamonds, but available at significantly lesser expense per carat.
The best lab-grown diamonds in jewelry are significantly more affordable than mined diamonds, often by many hundreds of dollars and even up to thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars less per carat. For the price of a single-carat mined diamond, you can have a two or even three carat lab-created diamond, or larger, for the center stone of a diamond engagement ring or other jewelry.
