Prada director urges jewellery industry to embrace lab-created diamonds

Post author:Shiva
Post published:October 22, 2023
Post category:Blog
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Italian luxury fashion house Prada has released its first fine jewellery collection featuring lab-created diamonds.

The collection is named Eternal Gold and includes heart-shaped earrings, snake-shaped rings, and a necklace with thick rings of gold studded with diamonds.

Prada’s first fine jewellery collection debuted in October of the past year and featured recycled gold. Jewellery director Timothy Iwata said the new collection was focused on ‘pushing boundaries’.

“Lab-grown diamonds are not just about replicating what’s possible for nature in a short period of time. It takes about three weeks versus billions of years,” he told The Washington Post.

“It’s just about that — it’s actually pushing the boundaries of, one, the cut [of a stone], and two, the idea of luxury material. It’s not just about customising some existing material. We actually grow that material for the client. You don’t get your own crocodile grown to become your bag.”

He added: “For the jewellery industry to survive, I think the jewellers need to embrace lab-grown.”

Lessons learned

The past two months have been action-packed for the lab-created diamonds industry.

The world’s largest mass-market jewellery brand, Pandora, released three new collections, while WD Lab Grown Diamonds, the second-largest diamond producer in the US, filed for bankruptcy.

According to the latest research from industry analyst Tenoris, lab-created diamond jewellery retail sales value increased by 47.3 per cent in the US in September on a year-on-year comparison.

“Some speak of ‘shooting stars’, products that very quickly capture market share and generate high cash revenue, but then burn out quickly and fade. Products move from one category to another based on how well they are managed,” writes Edahn Golan.

“If lab-created diamond proponents don’t carefully manage their rising star, this fast cash-generating product may become a ‘poor dog’ in no time. If there is a lesson the sector should learn from De Beers, it’s how to keep your non-essential product alive and interesting for more than a century.”

Interestingly, the percentage of retailers selling lab-created diamond bracelets increased by 90 per cent in September on a year-on-year comparison.

Stud earrings and engagement rings increased by 28 per cent, while retailers offering necklaces improved by 58 per cent.