Breaking its longstanding vow to only sell natural jewelry, the world’s largest diamond-mining company, DeBeers, has decided to start selling lab-made diamonds for the first time in its 130-year history. The company, which is credited with creating the allure of diamonds as rare, expensive and a symbol of everlasting love, released a statement on Tuesday morning, saying that it will market the artificial diamonds, which are cheaper than mined diamonds, as part of a new fashion line called Lightbox.
“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 CEO Bruce Cleaver. “Our extensive research tells us this is how consumers regard lab-grown diamonds—as a fun, pretty product that shouldn’t cost that much—so we see an opportunity here that’s been missed by lab-grown diamond producers.”
The company had previously promised that it would never sell man-made diamond jewelry, but the demand for it is now growing, and DeBeers’ new strategy will undercut smaller rivals in the artificial diamond market. Currently, artificial jewels make up a small part of the $80 billion global diamond market.
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