From Novelty to Nuisance

The pendulum has swung. Lab growns, once embraced as a quirky addition to the diamond family, are now being officially shunned.

They were a novelty back  then, but now it seems they've become a nuisance.

It was only 15 years ago that CIBJO (the World Jewellery Confederation) formally approved the terms "laboratory-grown" and "laboratory-created", alongside "synthetic" to describe diamonds made by man rather than nature.

Today the same organization seeks to reverse that situation completely, insisting that the only acceptable description for a non-natural diamond is "synthetic".

So what's changed? Well, back in 2010, when CIBJO delegates gathered in Munich, lab grown diamonds were in their infancy, accounting for around 1 per cent of the total diamond market, certainly no more than 2 per cent.

Today they have a market share estimated at 21 per cent, by value. Couples in the US who buy an engagement ring with a natural diamond are now actually in a minority (just 48 per cent, according to The Knot's 2025 Real Weddings Study).

CIBJO says it isn't just that lab growns have become more popular. It's the fact that the lab grown sector hasn't played fair, it hasn't been honest with consumers, and it needs reining in.

It's calling not only for "lab grown" terminology to be outlawed, but also for 4Cs grading to be restricted only to natural stones.

In doing so, it echoes a recent move by GIA, the world's biggest grading lab. From 1 October it will grade lab growns simply as "standard" or "premium" with no additional detail.

GIA has, like CIBJO, had a change of heart. As recently as 2019 it relaunched reports for "synthetic" diamonds as reports for "laboratory-grown" diamonds, together with gradings that closely resembled the full 4Cs.

Now, just six years later, it says the vast majority of diamonds fall into such a narrow range of color and clarity that 4Cs grading simply isn't relevant.

That's a different argument from the one CIBJO makes. The Swiss-based "parliament of the jewellery industry" isn't making a point about the physical attributes of lab grown diamonds.

It's making a point about the way it believes the lab grown industry has shaped public perception of its product.

It has, says CIBJO, blurred the lines between natural and non-natural diamonds. It has adopted the same (or similar) grading protocols to mask their different origins. And it has played the virtue card, by claiming lab growns are better for the environment.

"At the time, we believed we were acknowledging a commercial reality and extending a constructive hand to a new segment of the industry," said Udi Sheintal, president of CIBJO's Diamond Commission last week in a special report ahead of the 2025 CIBJO Congress in Paris at the end of October.

But he said it was now clear  there was no hope of the natural and non-natural sectors living happily side by side, as was the case with rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other colored gemstones.

"Most laboratories quickly began applying the 4Cs grading system, originally developed for natural diamonds, to synthetic stones," he said.

"Grading in this manner is a practice that I believe is fundamentally flawed and misleading."

And he had sharp criticism for the way the lab grown sector had positioned itself on the moral high ground.

He said: "The marketing narrative around synthetic diamonds has been aggressively shaped to position them as the more ethical, sustainable, and conflict-free choice, almost always without substantiation — implying that there is doubt about the values and origins of natural diamonds.

"This messaging has caused lasting damage to the natural diamond sector and has misled many well-meaning consumers."

CIBJO (or the Confederation Internationale de la Bijouterie, Joaillerie, Orfevrerie des Diamants, Perles et Pierres, to use its full name) is an influential body and its Diamond Blue Book serves as the definitive guide for diamond nomenclature and grading terminology.

It promotes best practice, but it has no powers of enforcement. It has widespread support as a global body, but its new guidelines, if approved, will be at odds with the US Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC says the terms "laboratory-grown", "laboratory-created" or "synthetic" should be used to indicate the diamonds have not been mined.

Have a fabulous weekend.