Last week, man-made diamond company Aether Diamonds received B Corp Benefits Certification.
Founded in 2018 by Ryan Shearman, Daniel Wojno and Robert Hagemann, Aether Diamonds was the world's first company to produce man-made diamonds using carbon capture technology. Aether has adopted an online direct sales model, where consumers can customize diamonds of various sizes and colors, from crushed diamonds to 2.5 carats, with delivery times of about three months.
Recently, Aether introduced a range of man-made diamond rings. The rings use not only environmentally friendly man-made diamonds produced by the company, but also certified responsibly mined metals. Because of the difference in manufacturing methods, Aethers produces man-made diamonds that are priced higher than ordinary-made diamonds, with branded one-carat diamond rings costing around $6,500.
Aether man-made diamond ring
Ryan Shearman, co-founder and CEO of Aether Diamonds, said that obtaining B Corp certification will further differentiate Aether Diamonds from other man-made diamond companies. "A lot of companies that advertise lab-grown diamonds do this by buying seeds from the fossil fuel industry, which isn't entirely environmentally friendly," he said. But we worked with a Swiss company to make man-made diamonds from the carbon it filters from the air. ”
Because of its negative carbon manufacturing, Ryan Shearman proudly calls Aether's man-made diamond "the first lab-grown luxury gemstone." For every carat of diamond produced, Aether removes 20 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air, he said, which is equivalent to 1.25 years of carbon emissions from an average U.S. resident. For safety reasons, they declined to disclose the specific location of the Aether diamond production machine.
In its first year, Aether had a turnover of approximately $3 million and received a seed round of financing of $2.7 million. Robert Hagemann, co-founder and chief marketing officer of the company, revealed that Aether's Series A funding round is coming to an end. At the same time, they are also exploring the possibility of establishing wholesale partnerships.
Aether Man-made Diamond Jewelry Collection
According to Frost & Sullivan's Environmental Impact Analysis of Rough Diamond Production, mining diamonds produces harmful carbon emissions of 57,000 grams per carat, and obtaining a carat of natural diamonds requires the destruction of up to 1,750 tons of irreparable and long-term uncultivable soil. On the other hand, despite the strict requirements from the Kimberly Process, the conflict diamond trade and labor problems have not been completely resolved, and there are frequent revelations.
The reason for the success of investors and consumers is not only because Aether has developed a unique and environmentally friendly man-made diamond manufacturing technology, but also because of the importance people attach to environmental protection and human rights issues.
Although man-made diamonds have only officially entered the public eye in recent years, in fact, people have begun to explore and study man-made diamonds as early as the 18th century. Between 1879 and 1928, many scholars proposed the hypothesis of diamond synthesis. These theories have been carefully analyzed and deduced, but have never been put into practice due to technical limitations.
With the continuous development of thermodynamics and high temperature and pressure technology, man-made diamonds began to turn from theory to reality. In the 1940s, the United States, Sweden and the Soviet Union pioneered diamond synthesis research, developing CVD (chemical vapor deposition) and HPHT (high temperature and high pressure) synthesis technology.
In December 1954, GE produced the first man-made diamonds for industrial use. In 1970, GM announced the birth of the first gem-quality man-made diamond.
In the more than three decades since then, although there have been reports of successful cultivation of more than a dozen carats of artificial diamonds, in fact, the manufacturing process of gem-quality man-made diamonds has developed significantly in the past decade. In 2010, Dr. Yufei Meng of Mao Heguang's research group synthesized the world's largest man-made diamond at the time, a colorless cut CVD diamond weighing 2.3 carats. This success announces the gradual improvement of the manufacturing technology of man-made diamonds and opens the door for the development of gem-quality man-made diamonds.
Man-made diamonds of all colors and shapes
As man-made diamond products gained more attention, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission made significant revisions to its gemstone guidelines in July 2018. The new rules remove the word "natural" from the definition of diamonds, affirm the properties of man-made diamonds, and stipulate that merchants "must not mislead consumers into using the word 'synthetic' in marketing that the man-made diamonds produced by competitors are not real diamonds."
At present, the mainstream manufacturing methods of man-made diamonds are still CVD and HPHT, both of which require the use of "crystal seeds" to complete the cultivation of artificial diamonds, and can produce different colors of brilliant gemstones by adjusting the element content. Among them, the CVD method is done through a plasma reactor, while HPHT imitates the formation of diamonds in nature, producing man-made diamonds through huge pressures and high temperatures.
The characteristics of high quality, low price and environmental protection have gradually made diamonds recognized in the jewelry market, and more and more mainstream jewelry manufacturers at home and abroad have begun to invest in the development of related businesses.
In 2016, Swarovski announced the creation of diama, a brand of man-made diamonds. In 2018, De Beers, the world's largest diamond supplier, announced the launch of Lightbox, a man-made diamond jewelry brand, and continuously increased its man-made diamond production through the opening of a new factory. The launch of start-up cultivated diamond brands such as Diamond Foundry and Fenix diamonds is further evidence of the development potential of this market.
De Beers' man-made diamond brand, Lightbox
Even if they are included in the diamond ranks, man-made diamonds have not yet been recognized by the jewelry industry and have the same meaning as natural diamonds.
"A diamond is forever" makes diamonds the most classic love keepsake. Through the concept marketing of perfect love, the brilliant brilliance of natural diamonds has made countless people flock to it. But people ignore that this praise for diamonds was initially just an advertising slogan. The broadcast of the movie "Blood Diamond" and the continuous exposure of labor rights and environmental pollution problems have made consumers have higher moral requirements for natural diamonds. According to bain & company' report, 76%, 58% and 72% of millennials and Gen Z consumers in China, the United States, and India are concerned about the environmental protection and ethics of diamonds, respectively.
The continuous deepening of the concept of environmental protection and the continuous appeal of celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio have made more and more young people begin to "stand" for artificial diamonds, choose artificial diamond jewelry, and promote the environmental protection concept. Driven by young people, the future man-made diamond market is bound to be further developed.
All are pure carbon components, have the same optical properties, and are manifested in the same cubic crystal form... In fact, if analyzed from a rational point of view such as elements and performance, natural diamonds are no different from man-made diamonds. People's pursuit and love of natural diamonds mainly comes from scarcity and the imagery of the identity and status it represents.
Perhaps, the artificial diamonds that can achieve mass production will not be able to obtain the same status as natural diamonds for a long time, but technological innovations and changes in the concept of a new generation of consumers may break the entrenched "chain of contempt" and allow people to have more freedom when choosing jewelry. WWD
Written by Usasa
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