Bigger, better diamonds…coming soon.

Since the mid-1800’s, scientists have been working to develop lab-created diamonds. In the 1950’s, General Electric was the first to produce man-made* diamonds. The diamonds produced had wonderful applications in technology for cutting, electrical insulation and heat conductivity. However, the ability to produce white (colorless), gem quality diamonds of a size that meets the demand for engagement rings has been slow to evolve to the point where it makes economic sense to produce them in mass quantities.

A new article out on LiveScience.com indicates that this may no longer be the case. It may be soon that lab-created diamonds, produced by a process called chemical vapor deposition (CVD), will be readily available.

Click here to read the full article that appeared on Yahoo and MSNBC.

C5 company has created custom jewelry using colorless, lab-created diamonds of exceptional quality. As the global supply has been very minimal to date, we have used both HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) and CVD (chemical vapor deposition) diamonds, depending on what was available. The processes to create diamonds are different, but both result in brilliant diamonds that are not marked by the severe negative and social issues associated with their mined counterparts.  

For more information on the history of man-made diamonds, we recommend The Diamond Makers by Robert M. Hazen.

* Lab-created, man-made and synthetic are synonymous with regard to diamonds. However, there are companies that produce fake diamonds and refer to them as synthetic stones. Price is usually a good indicator of whether or not it is a real diamond.