Lab Grown Diamonds
Lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds, identical to natural diamonds in their chemistry and physical properties. The only difference is how they are created: natural diamonds formed deep in the earth over billions of years, while lab-grown diamonds are grown in weeks under carefully controlled conditions that recreate the same process.
How Are Lab-Grown Diamonds Made?
HPHT (High Pressure, High Temperature)
HPHT recreates the conditions in which natural diamonds form deep in the earth. A small diamond seed sits in a press with a carbon source and a molten metal that helps the carbon dissolve. Under immense pressure and heat, carbon crystallises onto the seed and a diamond grows over days to weeks.
CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition)
CVD takes place in a vacuum chamber. Thin diamond seed plates sit inside while a carbon-rich gas, usually methane mixed with hydrogen, is energised, often by microwaves, into a plasma. Carbon atoms settle onto the seeds and the diamond builds up layer by layer over several weeks. Many CVD diamonds are treated after growth to improve their colour, and the grading report says so.
Our guide to HPHT vs CVD goes further.
What Is the Difference Between Lab-Grown and Natural Diamonds?
A lab-grown diamond is a diamond: the same carbon crystal, the same hardness and the same light performance as a natural one. The difference is its origin, not its appearance.
Neither the eye nor a jeweller’s loupe can tell them apart. That takes specialist laboratory equipment that reads how the crystal grew, and the grading report states which it is.
For the full, honest comparison, read Natural vs Lab Diamonds.
Are Lab-Grown Diamonds Certified?
At Jabour, every lab-grown diamond comes with an independent grading report.
Lab-grown diamonds are graded on the same 4Cs as natural diamonds: cut, colour, clarity and carat. The report also states the growth method, HPHT or CVD, and whether any treatment after growth was detected.
At Jabour, we sell GIA and IGI certified lab-grown diamonds. Please note that GIA reports for lab-grown diamonds are online documents, which you can download for your records. IGI lab-grown diamonds come with a physical certificate.
Are Lab-Grown Diamonds Ethical?
There are honest arguments on both sides. Lab-grown diamonds involve no mining, and their origin is straightforward to trace.
Growing a diamond does take a great deal of energy, so its footprint depends heavily on how that energy is produced. A grower powered by renewable energy has a very different footprint from one that is not.
Natural diamonds traded through legitimate channels fall under the Kimberley Process, which exists to keep conflict diamonds out of the market. It is an important safeguard, though a narrow one.
Whichever you choose, ask where the stone came from and ask to see its report.
Price and Value
The biggest difference between lab-grown and natural diamonds is price. A lab-grown diamond costs a fraction of a natural diamond of the same size and grade, so the same budget buys a larger or finer stone.
If resale value matters to you, natural diamonds have an established second-hand market, though even natural stones usually resell below what was paid for them. The resale market for lab-grown diamonds is very limited.