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De Beers Surrenders, Begins Selling Lab-Grown Diamonds

posted by martyb on Thursday May 31 2018, @06:05AM   Printer-friendly
from the if-you-can't-beat-'em... dept.

takyon writes:

De Beers admits defeat over man-made diamonds

The world's largest diamond miner is doing the unthinkable: Selling stones produced in a laboratory. De Beers launched a new jewelry brand on Tuesday that features synthetic diamonds, a major reversal for a company that had implored consumers to stick with "real" stones.

The brand, called Lightbox, will offer synthetic diamonds at a fraction of the price it charges for stones pulled out of the earth. De Beers framed the move as a response to consumer demands. "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," said De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver.

[...] De Beers had been an outspoken critic of synthetic diamonds. Company executives vowed never to sell artificial stones, and it participated in the diamond industry's "real is rare" campaign. It even developed a machine that spots lab-grown stones.

Also at Bloomberg and TechCrunch.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by MadTinfoilHatter on Thursday May 31 2018, @02:48PM (2 children)

    by MadTinfoilHatter (4635) on Thursday May 31 2018, @02:48PM (#686754)

    Anyhow, I think it's important to make a distinction between an ENGAGEMENT ring (often quite expensive and with prominent diamond due to aforementioned De Beers marketing, but not traditionally so extravagant) and wedding rings (which are frequently simple bands and often relatively inexpensive).

    That seems to be the American way of doing it. In this part of the world (northern Europe) it's the other way around: The engagement rings (which both parties get) are typically plain rings with no stones, whereas the wedding ring (which only the wife gets) typically is a bit fancier with some (usually fairly small) stones, but even those rarely cost more than the two engagement rings combined. The ma$$ively expen$ive rings with huge diamonds seem to be a very American thing. In other parts of the world De Beers has been far less successful.

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  • (Score: 2) by ledow on Thursday May 31 2018, @03:16PM

    by ledow (5567) on Thursday May 31 2018, @03:16PM (#686769) Homepage

    Don't spend loads on something she might hate.

    Engagement = surprise = plain and simple, yet exciting anyway.
    Wedding = planned = she can choose something fancy that she will like.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @06:45PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @06:45PM (#686867)

    Over many years, there is a good chance that a stone (diamond) will pop loose. The setting will probably survive a few months of engagement.

    The stone will damage all sorts of things. You can scrape your eye with it. You can snag a chunk out of your favorite sweater. You can scratch all sorts of things you might care about.