Pandora, the mysterious, primal world of ¡®Avatar¡¯ the world's biggest jeweller, has announced it will drop mined diamonds from its glass cases and switch to more affordable and sustainable laboratory-made diamonds.
The Copenhagen-based company said that the man-made diamonds have the same optical, chemical, thermal and physical characteristics as those excavated from a mine.?
But they can be created at about a third of the cost as compared to the mined ones and seem to be targeted towards millennials, who are increasingly concerned about the environment and human rights violations in the mining industry.
¡°Diamonds are not only forever, but for everyone,¡± Pandora Chief Executive Alexander Lacik said in a statement as the company launched its lab-made collection, called Pandora Brilliance, in the United Kingdom.
¡°They are as much a symbol of innovation and progress as they are of enduring beauty and stand as a testament to our ongoing and ambitious sustainability agenda,¡± he added.
The new collection includes rings, bangles, necklaces and earrings and start at ?250 (?25,000).
Lab-grown stones have been billed as the ethical, traceable alternative to mined diamonds. Pandora says they are graded by the same standards known as the 4Cs--cut, colour, clarity and carat--before being sold.
Pandora says that the lab-created diamonds in the collection have been grown with more than 60 per cent renewable energy on average--a ratio that is expected to rise to 100 per cent when the company launched the collection globally next year.
According to an Antwerp World Diamond Centre and Bain & Co. report, global diamond sales fell 15 per cent in 2020 due to the travel restrictions and lockdowns amid the pandemic. Production of rough diamonds fell 20 per cent in 2020 and prices declined by 11 per cent.
The production of lab-grown diamonds reached 6-7 million carats with up to 60 per cent of it manufactured in China using high-pressure, high-temperature technology. Another technology using chemical vapor deposition is gaining share, with India and the US emerging as major production centers.
So, are lab-made diamonds the solution? Well, there are two challenges. One, they can take a lot of energy to produce, but some producers like Diamond Foundry claim their process in "100% hydro-powered, meaning zero emissions".
Another, as pointed out by the World Diamond Council (WDC) in a BBC report, is that small-scale diamond mining communities would lose their primary source of income if mining of diamonds is stopped, causing ¡°devastating impacts on their livelihoods.¡±
What¡¯s your pick: a mined diamond or a lab-made one? Let us know in the comments.