https://www.wired.com/story/swiss-made-high-end-lab-grown-diamonds/
Now that it’s possible to grow affordable gems in the time it takes to watch a movie, the race is on to save the value of the most precious stone.
"what the hell's the point of a diamond if no slaves died to get it and it costs less than a starter home? Now that any one of you disgusting peasants can own one its WORTHLESS!!!"
-some asshole who works for DeBeers presumably
Aluminum jeweleries were popular in the 19th century. Light weight and shiny like silver. Then they found a cheaper way to extract aluminum from ore. Then people started using aluminum for industrial applications, made utensils from it etc. and then nobody wanted a piece of jewelry that was made from the same material as a fork. Just wanted to share.
I believe one of France's kings had aluminum dinnerware back when it was still hard to make. Fun times.
Car company 1: would you want a BIG MANLY TRUCK made out of the same thing as a COKE CAN?! EWWW
Car company 2: you want your BIG MANLY TRUCK made out of the same thing as a FIGHTER JET! FREEDUMMMMMM!
I do think that lab grown diamonds will eventually end the whole diamond thing, and here’s why. The allure of diamonds is about 5% based in their objective sparkly qualities and 95% a status / wealth construct which is based around their scarcity / their artificially-maintained expensiveness. Manufactured diamonds eliminate the scarcity and expensiveness. Therefore they will not be a cultural construct that holds any status, or meaning as a symbol of wealth, for much longer. Basically manufactured diamonds have a short window when they can capitalize on cultural mores about diamonds with a cheaper product. But they themselves are destroying 95% of the allure of diamonds in doing so. Not only will mined diamonds lose value, but manufactured diamonds will too - unless they can innovate to keep coming up with cool stuff like bigger gems with cool visual qualities. Eventually they will be valued only for their objective sparkle or whatever, and the rest of the status game will cease to exist. You can see that this has already taken place for many people in this thread. Surely, certain rich people are still paying a premium just to know that their diamond is mined. But eventually fraud will undermine that, and yes even some guilt about mining practices. Rich people will have to move on to some other status symbol. But it takes time. Concepts of how weddings are supposed to go do not change quickly, in part because parents have a lot of say in how their kids’ weddings go, and this bridges the generations and keeps old mores alive. To a degree. But anyway yeah kiss this whole diamond thing goodbye pretty soon here.
As someone for whom 100% of her desire for diamond jewelry was that they make pretty sparkles, I'm all for it. Status symbols are silly, make pretty sparkles cheaper
[De Beers] stating that the economics of lab-grown diamonds for jewelry were not sustainable.
"That's cheating, we can't throttle the market of these shiny rocks! The indistinguishable ones you need are still those we're killing people for!"
I hope one day you can make a perfect gemstone for the cost of a burger, so people just stop caring about them at all.
De Beers: we can remove the major differentiator by stabbing an enslaved person to death with each lab-grown diamond. This will make them valuable.
yeah high quality has pretty much been defined by what cannot be done in a lab to prop up de beers. Remember on how colored diamonds were a mark of low quality but once they could not stop it then suddenly its special diamond type. oooh.
wtf there are people who want to pay more for diamonds to brag about how much they paid for a shiny rock...
This wouldn't even be dumb if it weren't for the fact that diamonds have practically no significant resale value.
At least if you buy something like a gold ring, you'll know that it will be worth at least the melt value of the gold later on.
Well, that's true for pretty much any luxury brands. Look at how many people pay for the fancy "designer" clothing items and accessories with branding plastered all over it (Gucci, MK, Boss, etc), where the quality isn't any better than the "pleb" versions, and they're often more expensive than custom tailored items that'll look way better.
Vanity purchases are absolutely a thing. I'm glad my wife was cool with a relatively inexpensive ring (<$1k) and doesn't care much for jewelry in general. But the rest of her family is another story, and they love all of that vain nonsense. So instead of wasting all of our money looking rich, we're able to afford things like a home and plan for retirement.
I got my wife's ring with a synthetic diamond. It is beautiful, decently sized, fairly high standard in terms of cut and clarity, colour and flurourescents. It was cheaper and it made her happier because she is an ethical purchaser.
The diamonds in the surround, for someone unknown reason, were natural and were sourced all over the world. They were dofficult to source and put a dampener of the ethical efforts.
People who want to spend money will, but there is 0 need.
Ultimately, yeah. The article points out that the way they want to do it is with unique designs, carbon neutrality, and transparency in the production chain.
A pair of Stardew Valley pendants from Etsy is probably more meaningful than diamond rings, tbh.
Funny thing is, I'd never heard of it before reading about its success in the US. Nowadays it's available in supermarkets and some bars, but it's not really popular AFAICT.
It's literally referenced in pop songs as high class liquor. I've met people who won't drink vodka unless it's "goose".
On the other hand it's vodka. Once you're spending $25+ per bottle it's all basically the same.
I think diamonds get a bad rep because of shitty companies like De Beers who artificially pump up the price of diamonds. I don't think anyone would have an issue with diamonds if their price range was comparable to amethyst and made ethically.
Yup. We got diamonds for my wife's ring, but we paid a reasonable amount (<$1k; pretty small but pretty diamonds) and we were told they were ethically sourced. I hope that's true, but we're only a small part of the problem, if at all.
Most of my wife's jewelry is her birth stone, which is way cheaper and doesn't have the ethical issues diamonds have.
Ofc nobody would have problems with a rock if it weren't used for violence, theft, exploitation, etc. But that's not the case at all.
#freepalestine