Why Choose Lab-Grown Diamonds?
Lab-grown diamonds offer a beautiful, ethical, and environmentally responsible alternative to mined diamonds—without compromising quality or brilliance. Here’s why more people are making the switch:
Environmentally Conscious
Lab-grown diamonds leave a much lighter footprint on the planet. Traditional diamond mining disrupts ecosystems, consumes massive amounts of energy, and requires heavy machinery that scars the landscape. In contrast, creating a 1-carat lab diamond uses up to 85% less energy than mining a natural one. With fewer greenhouse gas emissions and minimal environmental disruption, lab-grown diamonds are the clear choice for a sustainable future.
Ethically Produced
Unlike mined diamonds, which may be tied to conflict zones, unsafe working conditions, or human rights abuses, lab-grown diamonds are created in controlled environments with transparent sourcing. Each stone is 100% conflict-free and free from the dark legacy of “blood diamonds.” You can wear your jewelry with confidence—knowing it reflects your values.
Exceptional Value
Lab-grown diamonds typically cost 40–60% less than comparable natural diamonds. By eliminating the high costs of mining operations—like land use, labor, and logistics, these savings are passed on to you. That means you can afford a larger, higher-quality diamond for the same budget.
How Are Lab-Created Diamonds Made
High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) Diamonds
The HPHT method starts with a tiny piece of diamond, called a diamond seed. This seed is placed in pure carbon, and then exposed to heat and pressure mimicking the conditions deep within the Earth’s crust.
A temperature of around 1500 degrees Celsius (2700 Fahrenheit) and pressure of 1.5 million pounds per square inch melts the layer of carbon, forming a completed diamond around the original diamond seed.
How this happens is the carbon melts and dissolves under the heat. It is then solidified by the pressure (turning it into a diamond), and cooled.
There are several different machines commonly used to apply the heat and pressure for the HPHT process – a belt press, cubic press, and the split-sphere (BARS) press. The latter is the most common these days, as the most efficient way of growing diamonds, particularly larger diamonds.
Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Diamonds
The CVD method, short for Chemical Vapor Deposition, uses less heat and much less pressure than HPHT. Instead, carbon-based gases are used to form and grow what we know as a diamond.
The process begins again with a diamond seed. The diamond seed for the CVD process is usually a narrow diamond slice, quite often one that was first created using the HPHT method.
Similar to HPHT, this diamond seed is placed in a sealed chamber. Gases are then introduced to the chamber, typically methane and hydrogen. The environment is then heated to several hundred degrees Celsius. Under this heat, the gases break down, and the carbon atoms from these gases begin to build around the diamond seed.
The CVD method is newer, and less costly than HPHT, since the machinery is smaller and requires less power. However, CVD diamonds often come out in a black or brown color, which then requires HPHT treatment to get the final, colorless diamond. This being said, the CVD method has improved drastically in the last decade, meaning it’s more common for scientists to produce colorless diamonds using only Chemical Vapor Deposition.
