The 9News report detailed the surging popularity of lab-created diamonds, particularly among younger consumers, and the flow-on impact this transition has had on jewellers working with natural diamonds.
Speaking with reporter Mimi Becker, Steve Richards of Eco Lab Diamonds, an online jewellery retailer, said it was a category consumers found hard to ignore because of the cost differential.
"The savings to people are astronomical. A [lab-created] diamond you can buy off me for $2,000; in the shops, they'd be about $12,000 to $15,000," he said.
This sentiment was echoed by Roy Cohen of Diamond Certification Laboratory, who explained that lab-created diamonds make elegant jewellery accessible to a broader market.
However, this perspective was countered by Melbourne-based jeweller Simon Kushnir (Kush Diamonds), who said that lab-created diamond jewellery undermined consumers' emotional attachment to these products.
"The resale value is zero; you will get nothing for it,” Kushnir said.
“You want to give her something that is valuable – treasurable – to represent your commitment or a fake stone?"
The report concludes by summarising the debate as a matter of perspective.
Jeweller has published two special editions surrounding the debate about man-made diamonds which address this topic from a range of perspectives.
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