Lab-grown vs mined: the only difference is the journey

Ice can form in a glacier or a freezer. The ingredients, and the result, are exactly the same. That is the simplest way we have found to explain a lab-grown diamond.

A lab-grown diamond is carbon arranged in the same crystal lattice as a mined diamond. It measures 10 on the Mohs scale. It refracts light the same way. Gemmologically it is a diamond — not a simulant, not a substitute.

What differs is the journey. One takes a billion years and a mine. The other takes a few weeks in a reactor that mimics the same heat and pressure, with a traceable record from seed to setting.

That difference shows up in two places you will care about: the price, which is typically around a third of an equivalent mined stone, and the provenance, which we can account for in full.