Real Diamonds, Not Simulants
Lab-grown diamonds are the real deal, with identical physical, optical, and chemical properties to earth-mined diamonds. The only difference is their origin—created in a controlled lab environment rather than extracted from the earth. This not only ensures the same stunning brilliance and durability but also offers a much lower cost to you and a significantly reduced environmental impact. Choosing a lab-grown diamond for your engagement ring, wedding band or other item of jewellery means enjoying all the beauty of a natural diamond while supporting a more sustainable future.
Why Choose a Lab-Grown Diamond?
- Price: the same budget buys roughly double the carat weight compared with a mined diamond, a difference you can see stone by stone in our live diamond feed.
- Ethics and environment: no mining, a far smaller footprint, and full traceability. The lab-grown diamonds we sell are 100% Climate Neutral and Sustainability Rated.
- Quality and purity: growth conditions are controlled, so lab-grown stones are often purer than mined equivalents, and every diamond we sell is independently certified.
- Identical beauty: the same sparkle, fire and a perfect 10 on the Mohs hardness scale, because it is the same material, crystallised carbon.
When Were Lab-Grown Diamonds First Made?
Lab-grown diamonds are older than most people think. General Electric produced the first true synthetic diamonds in 1954, tiny industrial stones grown under enormous heat and pressure. Gem-quality stones followed in the 1980s, but stayed rare and expensive until the HPHT and CVD growth processes matured through the 2000s. By the mid-2010s, certified lab-grown diamonds reached jewellery quality at scale, and today they sit alongside mined diamonds in engagement rings around the world, including ours.
How Are Lab-Grown Diamonds Made?
Two processes grow real diamond crystal from a tiny diamond seed. HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) recreates the conditions deep inside the Earth, while CVD (chemical vapour deposition) builds the diamond atom by atom from carbon-rich gas. Both produce genuine diamond, and the growth method is noted on the grading report. For the full story, read our guide to how lab-grown diamonds are created.
How Much Do Lab-Grown Diamonds Cost in NZ?
As a guide from our own catalogue, a complete lab-grown diamond solitaire engagement ring starts from about $1,499 at half a carat, $1,999 at one carat, and $3,829 at two carats. Loose stones are priced live on our certified lab-grown diamond feed, where you can filter by carat, cut, colour, clarity and certificate. Not sure what size to choose? See our guide to how many carats an engagement ring should be.
Our Commitment to Sustainability
We proudly partner with companies that are dedicated to doing no harm to people or the planet. These partners are actively working towards Net Zero or Net Positive impacts across 100% of their production categories. By choosing sustainable lab-grown diamonds, you’re making a conscious choice to support ethical practices and environmental stewardship. Every small action contributes to a greater change, and together, we can make a meaningful difference for a more sustainable future.
Certification
Every lab-grown diamond we offer is certified. Certification guarantees that the diamond specifications you choose are exactly what you receive, providing peace of mind and confidence in your purchase. Learn what a report covers in our guide to diamond certification and grading reports.
Let us help you find the perfect sustainable, carbon-neutral lab-grown diamond that meets your standards for beauty and ethics.
The Four Cs
The Four C's—Cut, Colour, Clarity, and Carat Weight—are the universal standards used to evaluate diamonds. Each diamond is assessed on these qualities, with factors like cut, colour, and clarity shaped by the quality of the rough diamond. This process is exactly the same for a lab-grown diamond or an earth mined diamond.
FAQs
Lab-grown diamonds have the same chemical composition as natural diamonds and should be treated and cared for in the same way. All diamonds, mined and lab-grown, are rated excellent for everyday wear. See our jewellery cleaning guide for simple at-home care.
Lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds. They are made up of a single element, carbon, just as their natural counterparts and have the same optical and physical properties. Advanced testing and screening are needed to distinguish between lab-grown diamonds and natural diamonds.
Not by eye, and not with a jeweller's loupe. Even a standard diamond tester reads lab-grown stones as diamond, because they are diamond. Telling them apart requires specialist laboratory equipment that reads growth patterns and trace elements, which is why the origin is always stated on the grading report, and most certified stones carry a microscopic laser inscription.
If you want a real diamond and the best size and quality your budget allows, yes. The same money buys roughly twice the carat weight of a mined diamond, with identical brilliance and hardness. If long-term resale value matters to you, mined diamonds currently hold secondary-market value better, and most buyers weigh that against the substantial upfront saving.
Lab-Grown Diamonds are made of carbon, which is identical to natural diamonds. Diamonds (natural and lab-grown) have a hardness of 10 according to the Mohs hardness scale. Moissanite, on the other hand, is made of silicon carbide and has a hardness of 9.25. Read our full comparison in moissanite vs lab-grown diamond.
The only difference between a natural diamond and lab-grown diamond is how they are grown. Natural diamonds are grown deep within the earth, with little to no human intervention - except they must be mined to be brought to the surface. Lab-grown diamonds, on the other hand, are grown in a controlled lab environment with the help of scientists.
