Lab-grown diamonds, honestly explained
Most of our clients choose lab-grown diamonds, and the question we hear most often is a simple one: is it a real diamond? The honest answer is yes. Here is what that means, and how to decide which kind of stone is right for you.
What a lab-grown diamond is
A lab-grown diamond is carbon, crystallised in the same structure as a diamond formed in the earth. It has the same carbon, the same hardness and the same brilliance as a mined stone. The difference is in its story: it is formed in weeks, under controlled conditions, rather than over a very long time underground.
Because it is the same material, a lab-grown diamond is cut, polished and set exactly as a natural one is. Held side by side, the two cannot be told apart by eye.
How it is graded
A lab-grown diamond is graded on the same four Cs as any other: cut, colour, clarity and carat. At Orynna every stone is graded by IGI or GIA, never by us, and your piece arrives with its grading certificate. The certificate also states that the stone is laboratory grown, so there is never any question about what you are wearing.
Lab-grown or natural: how to choose
Neither is the better diamond. They are two honest choices, and the right one depends on what you want the piece to carry.
- Choose lab-grown if you want the look and the fire of a diamond, with a certificate to prove its grades, and you are drawn to a stone made under controlled conditions.
- Choose natural when the geology is part of the story — when a stone formed in the earth matters to you. Our natural diamonds come from suppliers who can name the mine, not merely the country, and are Kimberley Process compliant.
Whichever you choose, the setting, the craftsmanship and the care are the same.
Living with a lab-grown diamond
Because a lab-grown diamond has the hardness of any diamond, it is made to be worn every day and kept for a lifetime. It needs exactly the same care as a natural stone: a gentle clean at home now and then, and a professional check of its setting from time to time. Cleaning, inspection and prong tightening are free for life on every Orynna piece, whichever kind of diamond it holds.
What does not change
Every piece is finished by hand at our own bench, and nothing leaves without a setter and a polisher signing it off. Before delivery it passes a ten-point check under magnification; anything short goes back. Then it travels insured and signed for, with its certificate.
Questions worth asking any jeweller
- Who graded this stone, and can I see the certificate?
- Does the certificate say whether the diamond is lab-grown or natural?
- What happens if I change my mind? With us, an unworn piece can come back within thirty days, with its certificate.
Read more about the materials we work in, see how a lab-grown stone looks in a line of light in our tennis necklaces, or ask us about a particular stone.