This content was first published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review no. 5 in 2018. The information provided here is therefore current as of the original publication date.
The demand estimates indicate a growth over the next few years. However, the diamond sector is getting ready for a challenge with a new competitor that could impact on its identity distorting its very essence, the “synthetic diamond”. We all wonder which one will prevail in such a conflict.
Now figures indicate the rise of synthetic items. From 150 million US$ in 2017 the turnover will increase to 1,05 billion US$ in 2020. Facts more than figures are surprising: De Beers enters this once forbidden market, Swarovski will produce its line using synthetic diamonds. But are we really talking about the same product? It is time to give a closer look at the competitors.
The natural diamond is a mineral, pure crystallised carbon in a cubic structure with an isomeric system. It formed billion of years ago at great depths, reaching the earth’s surface thanks to volcanic activities. The synthetic diamond crystallises artificially through technologies developed by man for industrial uses (dark and unattractive colouring) since the ‘50s. For some years crystals with an excellent colours have been obtained in laboratory and in relatively short processes (just a few days) using two typical procedures, HPHT (high pressure high temperature) and CVD (chemical vapor deposition). These new techniques use environments and methods for the growth of crystals different to one another on a chemical level. Obviously, they both evidence some differences with the natural ones. Such differences make the identification of synthetic items possible, though not always easy.
In the end, this technological progress will allow us to claim that natural and synthetic diamonds (almost) have the same chemical and physical identity card. However, such identity, as a product, is not perceived by the consumer. In fact, when we buy a diamond we expect to obtain a miracle of nature, a status symbol, rare, precious, eternal, highly emotional, with a great tradition of reliability in its various phases, from extraction to cutting and distribution. And with allied industries behind employing million people, bringing profits also to remote and disadvantaged areas.
When we buy a synthetic diamond, we enter an opposite world, that of industrial reproducibility, a world existing with the precise aim of increasing the produced quantities, while limiting costs. In fact, the drop in the prices of HPHT synthetic diamonds is an evident phenomenon. Beside the (questionable) reasons behind the alleged better environmental sustainability, synthetic items can have their say on the market, attracting the very young consumers to the world of jewellery. Then, in the future, they may reconsider natural diamonds once reached the phases of maturity in life, rewarding themselves with a durable good.
De Beers is the first big player to be involved. He put the problem of identity aside, confining it to chemistry. As De Beers produced both natural and synthetic diamonds, it will implement opposite strategies for two products that it clearly wants to show as different. This, after all, could also have some advantages for the market of natural diamonds. The marketing of synthetic items, as a contrast with the natural ones, will highlight the rarity of these latter consolidating their values, in particular for some sizes.
Conclusion. Are you considering of thinking about selling synthetic diamonds, given the rising demand of the market? Do you want to offer a cheaper alternative? All right, but do it with the utmost clarity and transparency avoiding misleading descriptions, don’t take advantage of the disinformation of those who are always looking for business at all costs. The game now involves the ability to clearly separate the two products and offering certainties. Then, the importance of the most autorathive certifications, accepted by the distribution chain, will have to be increasingly underlined. However, operators will have to improve also their training to be able to assess their suppliers’ integrity verifying the updating of all instruments used for the identification. The credibility of the sector as a whole is at stake.
By Sergio Sorrentino, published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review #5, Autumn 2018.
