De Beers announced the launch of a new company called Lightbox Jewelry that will begin marketing a new brand of laboratory-grown diamond jewellery under the Lightbox name in September, offering consumers high-quality, fashion jewellery designs at lower prices than existing lab-grown diamond offerings.
Lightbox lab-grown diamonds will retail from $200 for a quarter-carat stone to $800 for a one-carat stone. The line will bring something new and innovative to the jewellery sector, featuring pink, blue and white lab-grown diamonds in a selection of accessibly-priced earring and necklace designs.
“Lightbox will transform the lab-grown diamond sector by offering consumers a lab-grown product they have told us they want but aren’t getting: affordable fashion jewellery that may not be forever, but is perfect for right now,” said Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group. “Our extensive research tells us this is how consumers regard lab-grown diamonds – as a fun, pretty product that shouldn’t cost that much – so we see an opportunity here that’s been missed by lab-grown diamond producers. Lab-grown diamonds are a product of technology, and as we’ve seen with synthetic sapphires, rubies and emeralds, as the technology advances, products become more affordable. After decades of R&D investment, we’re able to offer consumers a better price today. While it will be a small business compared with our core diamond business, we think the Lightbox brand will resonate with consumers and provide a new, complementary commercial opportunity for De Beers Group.”
Steve Coe, general manager, Lightbox Jewelry, said, “Lightbox Jewelry offers consumers something new: sparkle and colours, at a very accessible price. In addition to a deep understanding of what consumers want, Lightbox brings innovation and a commitment to transparency to the lab-grown diamond sector. We’ve learned from our research that there is a lot of confusion about lab-grown diamonds – what they are, how they differ from diamonds, and how they are valued. Lightbox will be clear with consumers about what lab-grown diamonds are and will offer straightforward pricing that is consistent with the true cost of production.
“We will introduce more designs and colours as the range evolves, and the technological efficiency of our proprietary production process means we will always offer Lightbox at accessible prices.
Lightbox will launch in the US and will initially be available to US-based consumers through the Lightbox e-commerce website, with retail partnerships to be announced in due course.
A subsidiary of De Beers Group, Lightbox will be the only jewellery brand to source lab-grown diamonds from De Beers Group’s Element Six business, a world leader in lab-grown diamond technology for more than 50 years. Any Lightbox lab-grown diamonds of 0.2 carat or above will carry a permanent Lightbox logo inside the stone. Invisible to the naked eye but easily identified under magnification, the logo will clearly identify the stone as lab-grown and also serve as a mark of quality and assurance that it was produced by Element Six.
To support Lightbox, De Beers Group is investing a total of $94 million over four years in a new Element Six production facility near Portland, Oregon, USA, adding to Element Six’s existing UK-based facilities. Once fully operational, the plant will be capable of producing upwards of 5,00,000 rough carats of lab-grown diamonds a year.
We will introduce more designs and colours as the range evolves, and the technological efficiency of our proprietary production process means we will always offer Lightbox at accessible prices.”
GJEPC: Lightbox To Drive Differentiation Between Synthetics & Natural Diamonds
The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) expects that with the introduction of branded synthetic diamonds, De Beers will drive clear differentiation and categorisation in the diamond product category among consumers. Synthetic or laboratory-grown diamonds are a completely different product and can’t be compared to natural diamonds, which derive their value from being natural, precious and rare. A natural diamond stands for the most precious emotions and is a luxury product with timeless appeal.
The introduction of lab-created diamond jewellery by Lightbox will position real natural diamonds as unique, premium and luxury, and position synthetics appropriately as “non-precious accessories”, which is a small and distinct market. Branded synthetic diamonds have been used in non-precious jewellery by brands such as Swarovski and are sold as a non-precious fashion product.
The Indian diamond industry believes that De Beers lab-grown jewellery will have no impact on the demand, appeal and value of natural diamonds. The strength of the Indian industry has been built on the natural diamond industry. More than 90% of the world’s diamonds are polished in India. This is a very strong and vibrant industry with very large players with deep capabilities and a global presence. We enjoy the confidence of the topmost jewellery retailers across the world that come to India to source diamonds and jewellery.
Synthetic diamonds have been around for a long time and they have had no impact on the industry. Presently, production of synthetics is estimated to be only 2% of natural diamonds.
The industry has also been very proactive in preventing any risk of illicit mixing of synthetics with natural diamonds and players in the industry have protocols and processes in place to prevent any such risk. Our customers are aware of the measures the Indian diamond trade has undertaken to ensure confidence in the product. The industry is on a very sound platform to capitalise on the growing disposable income across the world.
The industry believes that diamond mining companies need to invest more money into promotion of diamonds, and expects that De Beers, Alrosa, Rio Tinto and other miners will continue to put more resources into marketing this unique and rare product.