In the last five years, the technology involved in creating coloured diamonds has significantly improved the production and consistency of the resultant lab-grown stones, making it possible for even finer colours.
“At this point in time, we’ve seen an increase in demand for pinks, blues, and canaries. We expect to see a lot more fine and fashioned, coloured lab-grown diamond jewellery coming to the market this year,” ALTR Created Diamonds President, Amish Shah said. ALTR is the world’s leading lab-grown diamond producer.
Over the past 12 months, demand for colours has moved into the wider lab-grown coloured diamond category with more designers focused on creating jewellery that explores the opportunities the sector offers.
Currently coloured diamonds account for less than one per cent of the overall lab-grown diamond production but Mr Shah projects that this share will exponentially in the next 12 months.
“The lab grown diamond category offers the consumer an opportunity to wear larger and more beautiful diamonds. Coloured diamonds fall under that aspirational purchase that consumers have always wanted. Price plays a very important role, but the desire of the consumer for beautiful, coloured diamonds is the main driving force,” he said.
In addition, the lab-grown diamond community is focused on being a far more socially and environmentally conscious product and this has been a key driver to the overall category.
ALTR is working towards improving its coloured lab grown diamond offer in various shapes and sizes. More colours are being developed and these will be unveiled in the latter part of 2021.
In 2018, it launched ‘The Pink Rose,’ the world’s largest pink diamond at Borsheim’s in Omaha during the week of the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder event.
Mr Shah pointed out the company’s strength lies in its variety of traditional and patented cuts. “As a company, we hold 48 patents on special cuts. While cushions lead the category as a shape, fancy coloured ALTR Created Diamonds are available in a variety of traditional cuts on order as well as in patented cuts for custom order,” he said.
He believes the opportunity to rekindle consumer desire for created lab-grown diamonds will expand over the next three years, especially as various design houses create more designs for the space.
“Lab-grown diamonds have opened the opportunity for cutting newer shapes and colours. The trade and consumer will both have an opportunity to explore these newer shapes and fancier colours in jewellery that they have never seen or designed.”
In the fancy lab-grown diamond category, pink leads in desirability across the world. “From the supply perspective, the pink is still the toughest, followed by the blue and canary,” Mr Shah said.