Because everyone invests in synthetic diamonds

Pandora has chosen to bet on artificial stones, but it is not the only company committed to rethinking the jewelry industry. There are those who also resort to nft

Photo by Edgar Soto on Unsplash Pandora, the largest jewelry manufacturer in the world, will no longer use mined diamonds. Artificial stones will be used instead. It begins with a collection presented in the United Kingdom and in 2022 the company will expand the offer to other countries. Customers? According to the company, market studies show that customers will understand, especially young people. More attentive to sustainability, they would be happy to be able to afford stones that were once inaccessible: synthetic diamonds, in fact, cost one third of natural stones. And they are not burdened by conflicts.

The denunciation in a 2006 film

Leonardo Di Caprio denounced it in 2006 with the film Blood Diamonds. The diamond industry has behind it the harsh working conditions of miners, inhabitants of very poor states often infested with cruel warlords, and damage to the environment.

The first attempt to curb abuse dates back to to 1998, with a United Nations resolution on the situation in Angola. In 2003, the UN also adopted the Kimberley process certification scheme, a verification process created with the aim of preventing the placing on the market of diamonds from conflict areas (conflict diamonds), to finance wars and violence. According to many, the results were not satisfactory. The producers ran for cover. The foundation of the Responsible jewelery council dates back to 2005, a trade association that tried to set some guidelines for a responsible industry. With 14 parties, today there are 250 members, subjected to periodic external audits.

The list of prohibited practices in the self-regulatory code includes the absolute ban on the use of precious metals and stones from war zones, corruption practices, child labor and false apprenticeship contracts; the commitment to keep the workplace healthy, to protect trade union freedom, to control the entire supply chain, to protect indigenous populations and prohibit forms of discrimination.

How diamonds are produced synthetics

“Crystals are like people: it's the flaws that make them interesting”. The difference between a natural and a synthetic diamond lies in this sentence by the English physicist Sir Frederick C. Frank. Natural gems are formed in the bowels of the earth during a process that lasts millions of years, at high pressures and high temperatures, before rising to the surface.

The first attempts to produce synthetic diamonds date back to Nineteenth century . But it is around the middle of the twentieth century that there is some success in the laboratories of General Electric. Research has not stopped since then. There are two main methods for producing synthetic diamonds.

The first, Hpht (High pressure high temperature) tries to imitate the conditions present at the extreme depths of the Earth. The graphite powder is reduced to a liquid state and then cooled to pressures in the order of 80 thousand times the atmospheric pressure. The second method is called Chemical Vapor Deposition. It starts from a mixture of hydrogen and gas containing carbon such as methane CH 4 which is decomposed by bringing it to a temperature of around 2,200 degrees by microwave or a heated filament. In simple terms, the carbon atoms "fall" on top of small diamond crystals previously placed in a decompression chamber. Times are extremely short, let's talk about a few weeks.

A new business

Pandora, which last year announced its intention to abandon gold and silver of new extraction by 2025, has seen the value of the shares on the stock market triple in the last year. But it is not the only one to have taken this path. The historic De Beers has its own synthetic line, while Tiffany has begun to give buyers details on newly extracted diamonds, to certify the origin of the gems and follow them since the mine. It seems that those over 50 are still attentive to the value of the stones, which, on the contrary, counts less and less for young people. Everything is played on the edge of emotions, which are difficult to quantify.

While waiting for the clear time to answer, there are those who try to play the card of an alternative exclusivity. Like the Italian Norberto Rossi, who has been selling NFT (non fungible token) diamonds for years. The stones are worn by holding them to the watch and the uniqueness of the gem is guaranteed by the blockchain. In recent times, NFTs have experienced a real boom. Which is tempting for many, but not for him: "Many projects are already born with the idea of ​​having an expiration date. But for me it's a marathon, not a race. I would like the bubble to burst and return to a healthy development process. ”

But who are the customers who buy a diamond to wear by viewing it on the smartwatch? “A few years ago, at the beginning, we attracted only British and American early investors who did not want to miss the next opportunity. But we are trying to change the clientele by moving it towards those who see it as an object to wear, ”says Rossi. And he reveals that there are football teams interested in NFTs. One in particular would be interested in putting their (large) archive into play. The name? Still top secret.


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Environment Blockchain Finance Fintech Jobs Made in Italy Nft globalData.fldTopic = "Environment, Blockchain, Finance, Fintech, Labor, Made in Italy, Nft "

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