The De Beers Group, known the world over for their diamonds, is launching a new diamond company called Lightbox Jewelry. And they are betting on U.S. customers lining up because the prices will be too good to ignore. The catch? The diamonds will sell for far less becuaes they will be lab-grown.
Beginning in September, Lightbox Jewelry will sell laboratory-made diamonds that will retail from $200 for a quarter-carat stone to $800 for a one-carat gem. Compare that price to a typical one-carat round stone, found on sale this week at Blue Nile (an online certified diamond retailer) for $5,657.
De Beers Group CEO Bruce Cleaver said in a statement:
“Lightbox will transform the lab-grown diamond sector by offering consumers a lab-grown product they have told us they want but aren’t getting: affordable fashion jewelry that may not be forever, but is perfect for right now. Our extensive research tells us this is how consumers regard lab-grown diamonds — as a fun, pretty product that shouldn’t cost that much — so we see an opportunity here.”1
This is a significant change in strategy from years past. However, there’s a reason; concern in the diamond industry is growing that “U.S. Millennials and other young consumers may have less interest in buying expensive diamonds as they save money for homes and other purchases.”2 (At least they are paying attention. That’s just good business.)
“The lab-made versions marketed by De Beers will come from an exclusive partnership with United Kingdom-based Element Six, which bills itself as the world’s leading supplier of synthetic diamonds for cutting, grinding, drilling, mining, polishing, optics, semiconductors and sensors.
The production process begins with minute slivers of lab-grown diamond crystal that are placed in a plasma reactor. Subjected to a heat of 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the slivers within two weeks grow into diamonds that are large enough for cutting and polishing.”3
According to Stephanie Liggins, the principal research scientist for Element Six, the diamond creation process can be tailored to produce any color diamond, ranging from icy white, to pink, blue,4 or whatever the customer wants.
The company is investing $94 million over the next four years in an Element Six production facility near Portland, Oregon and once fully operational, will be able to produce more than 500,000 rough carats of lab-grown diamonds annually at the facility.
Any new lab-grown stone of 0.2 carats or above will have the Lightbox logo inside (it will be invisible to the eye) as a mark of quality and assurance.
