Luxury jewelry created with ethically sourced materials.

Let’s learn about lab grown diamonds and how they compare natural diamonds...

HANAN MOSER only uses lab grown diamonds because we believe that luxury and sustainability can coexist. We don’t need to sacrifice our planet to indulge in beautiful things—we can have both. Pretty things can be good for people and the environment.

Of course, we’re not perfect yet, but we do everything we can to minimize our impact on mother nature and also do our research to ensure that we support suppliers who treat their employees fairly. Ethical work conditions are a discussion for another day, but let’s focus on the diamonds themselves first.

Here’s everything you need to know about lab grown diamonds, including how they’re made and the comparison between lab diamonds vs real diamonds.

What are lab diamonds?

The name for lab diamonds change depending on who you are talking to. We prefer lab grown diamonds for the sake of clarity, but you may have heard them referred to as any of the following:

• Man made diamonds
• Synthetic diamonds
• LAB diamonds
• Cultured diamonds

Based on these names, you probably guess that these diamonds are grown in laboratories. Thanks to technology, humans have cracked the code to replicate traditionally mined diamonds, with little to no difference in the final product. The wonders of science have transcended into beauty—and we love it!

How are lab diamonds made?

Lab grown diamonds are created through a process that accelerates the natural growth of traditionally mined diamonds. Rather than taking billions of years and tonnes of pressure under the earth’s surface, lab grown diamonds take less than a month to grow. A 1 carat white diamond requires 4-6 weeks to fully form.

As for the exact step-by-step process of a lab grown diamond from conception to the moment it’s ready to be donned on jewelry could go a couple different directions.

Both methods require extreme temperatures and mimic the pressure that occurs underground when traditional diamonds are formed. This blog post outlines the entire process start to finish of how lab diamonds are made.

Lab diamonds vs natural diamonds

On a molecular level, lab diamonds are identical to natural diamonds. They sparkle and shine the same way, and are graded following the same guidelines, so you can use the same rules to choose a lab diamond as you would a real diamond.

Which leads to the question we get often: Are lab diamonds real?

Simply: Yes. Lab diamonds are technically real diamonds. There’s nothing synthetic about them, except for the way they are created in a lab. And like we said, even that process closely resembles the same formation as in nature.

Diamonds are pure crystallized carbon. Their origin matters less than the fact that they are composed of carbon in crystallized form. It’s impossible for even trained diamond specialists to see the difference between lab diamonds vs mined diamonds. They require special equipment to note the difference… And even then, it’s difficult. They can only see the speed in which the diamond was created.

Some of the best arguments to choose lab grown diamonds over mined diamonds are the social and environmental impacts of mined diamonds. As more consumers become socially responsible, conscious of the ethics around these industries, and aware of their personal footprint on the environment, lab diamonds are growing in popularity. Specifically at HANAN MOSER, we chose lab grown diamonds for many reasons and always try to be better wherever we can in our business.

At the same time, we believe that luxury and responsibility can live hand in hand. We can treat ourselves to beautiful jewelry and feel good about it too.

Are lab diamonds cheaper?

The question everyone wonders: Are lab grown diamonds cheaper? Yes! And this cost savings directly translates to you. You’ll notice that lab grown diamonds, including the jewelry pieces available in our own product line, are significantly less expensive than their mined counterparts. It’s luxury at a fraction of the cost, plus without the negative side effects that come from their creation.

Of course, there are other factors that go into pricing jewelry compared to the raw diamonds.

For the sake of transparency, HANAN MOSER’s pricing structure has to allow for the following:

• Suppliers: Diamonds, gold, and other materials used to create our sustainable luxury jewelry. We also try to minimize our negative environmental impact through packaging choices.
• Manufacturers: We work with an Italian manufacturer that is a family business, which means that our founder personally knows everyone involved, from the CEO to the polisher, and each piece of jewelry is made-to-order. While arguably, a small batch of this type costs more compared to bulk production, this lowers our environmental impact again because we do not need massive storage facilities to house our products. We never create too many products, which means we have very little waste attached to our business. Sure, it’s a slightly more difficult process, but the effort is worth it in our opinion!
• Small team: While we are a small business, our team is considered within the operating costs. We work with a talented designer, marketing professionals, and other supportive roles to keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes.

This isn’t reflective of the entire portfolio of how we’ve calculated prices—we don’t want to bore you with all the details—but it should provide a high-level overview of how our lab grown diamond jewelry is priced comparative to mined diamond pieces. We share these details with you because we want to show you who is truly behind the brand and empower you to make buying decisions around the fashion and accessories you wear that reflect your personal values.

Choose your perfect diamond

Now that you’re basically an expert in lab diamonds, it’s time to choose the perfect one for you! This blog post walks you through how to choose a diamond. And when you’re ready to invest in diamond jewelry that is luxurious and beautiful while also being good for the environment and people, browse our collection here.