Our Ethical Lab Grown Diamonds
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HOW LAB DIAMONDS ARE GROWN
How Lux Jewels' Lab Grown Diamonds Are Made
Ethical lab grown diamonds at Lux Jewels are Type IIa stones, graded by IGI or GIA and hand-selected for your specific custom piece, not pulled from a stock list. They’re never mined, and they’re set in 99.5 percent repurposed gold or platinum. A free 30 to 40 minute video consultation comes first, with no commitment.
Lab grown diamonds are made mainly by one of two methods, HPHT or CVD, and both make real diamond with the same chemical and physical properties as a mined stone. I choose Type IIa stones, the purest diamond type. CVD-grown diamonds typically belong to Type IIa, while only about 1 to 2 percent of natural diamonds do.
High pressure, high temperature is what HPHT stands for, and it recreates the conditions deep in the earth, pressing carbon under heat until a diamond forms around a small seed.
Chemical vapour deposition, or CVD, builds the diamond layer by layer from a carbon-rich gas inside a vacuum chamber.
Why does the type matter to you? Type IIa diamonds are almost or entirely free of impurities, so they’re usually colourless. Not every lab grown diamond reaches that Type IIa standard, and some show yellow, grey, brown or pink undertones that a buyer doesn’t want in a white stone.
The growth method matters to a diamond grower, but what matters more to you is an independent IGI or GIA report and a well cut stone, and I handle the technical side so you don’t have to.
The growth method sets the purity, and the IGI or GIA report that follows tells you what you can trust.
Graded by an Independent Third Party: IGI or GIA
Every diamond I supply comes with an independent IGI or GIA grading report, so its cut, colour, clarity and carat are confirmed by a lab that didn’t sell you the stone. I also run my own quality check on top of the report, and I’ll pass on a stone that doesn’t meet it, whatever the paperwork says.
That’s what a certified diamond for an engagement ring should mean, an IGI or GIA report plus my own check, not one alone. If you’d like to know how the two labs differ, my guide to IGI vs GIA compares them side by side.
A report doesn’t tell you everything, though. For a round diamond, the IGI or GIA report gives you a cut grade, but for fancy shapes such as oval, pear or cushion, it won’t, and the proportions decide how the stone looks instead.
As GIA puts it, a diamond’s proportions determine how light performs when it enters the diamond, and light that leaks out the bottom instead of bouncing back makes a stone look dark, so two diamonds with matching grades can still look different side by side. On a fancy shape, I’d always check the proportions before judging it on colour and clarity.
One more thing to notice on a modern report. Since July 2019, GIA’s reports for lab grown diamonds no longer use the word “synthetic”.
The report is written in the language of the 4Cs, so here are the grades I’d aim for.
HOW DIAMONDS ARE GRADED
The Grades I'd Pick for Your Stone
Lab grown diamonds are graded on the same 4Cs as mined ones, cut, colour, clarity and carat, the system GIA developed in the 1950s. Cut does the most visible work, so it’s where I’d spend first.
A well cut diamond, I’d say, returns light as brilliance and fire, so it looks bigger and brighter than a poorly cut stone of the same weight.
My advice on clarity is VS1 or VS2, the sweet spot. Those grades are eye-clean, which means you won’t see inclusions without magnification, and they cost far less than Flawless, though paying for more rarely changes how the diamond looks on your hand.
For colour, I’d look at G to H. Those near-colourless grades look white once they’re set.
You can read GIA’s own guide to the 4Cs, and my longer explainer on the 4Cs of diamonds goes through each grade in turn.
Once you know which grades matter most for your budget, here’s how the stone itself gets picked.
ETHICAL DIAMONDS, MADE FOR YOU
How Your Diamond Is Chosen for Your Custom Piece
Your diamond is hand-selected from certified growers for your specific project, because Lux Jewels doesn’t keep loose diamonds in stock or sell them on their own. You tell me the shape, budget and look you want, and I find stones that fit before anything is set.
That’s how I choose a diamond for your custom ring, with the stone picked for your design, not the other way round. Once you’ve settled on a direction, I send you a video of the stone with its full IGI or GIA report, and you approve it before anything gets made.
If you’d prefer a Canadian mined diamond, it’s sourced for your piece the same way. For how the two compare, I’ve written up my lab grown vs natural diamonds comparison.
After you approve the stone, Lux Jewels’ goldsmiths handcraft the piece, and it takes 4 to 5 weeks from your deposit.
If you’ve been comparing lab grown diamonds in Vancouver, the process is the same one, done by video call wherever you live in Canada.
Choosing the stone is half the decision, and I’ll show you the ethics next.
Is a Lab Grown Diamond Ethical?
Yes, on the points you can check. A lab grown diamond is never mined, so it carries no conflict-diamond risk, and the Kimberley Process, which covers the trade in rough mined diamonds, doesn’t apply to it. At Lux Jewels it’s also graded by IGI or GIA and set in 99.5 percent repurposed gold or platinum.
If you’re weighing ethical lab grown diamonds for a gift, the two claims you can verify are the IGI or GIA report and the metal, so ask for both in writing, with the report naming the lab and the metal note saying what the setting is made of.
Mined diamonds aren’t unethical by default. The Kimberley Process exists to keep conflict diamonds out of the legitimate trade in rough stones, and it’s the scheme to ask about if you choose a mined diamond.
FAQ
What is a Type IIa lab grown diamond?
I choose Type IIa diamonds because they’re the purest type, almost or entirely free of impurities, so they’re usually colourless. Only about 1 to 2 percent of natural diamonds are Type IIa, while CVD-grown diamonds typically are.
What’s the difference between CVD and HPHT diamonds?
HPHT grows a diamond by pressing carbon under earth-like heat and pressure, while CVD builds it layer by layer from a carbon-rich gas in a vacuum chamber. Both are real diamonds, and CVD-grown stones are typically Type IIa.
What are the 4Cs of a lab grown diamond?
Cut, colour, clarity and carat, the same four grades GIA uses for mined diamonds. My guide to the 4Cs of diamonds explains each one.
What’s the best clarity for a lab grown diamond?
I’d point you to VS1 or VS2. They’re eye-clean, so no inclusions show without magnification, but they cost much less than Flawless or VVS.
Are your lab grown diamonds certified?
Yes. Every diamond I supply comes with an independent IGI or GIA grading report confirming the 4Cs, and I run my own quality check on top of it.
Are lab grown diamonds conflict free?
Yes. They’re never mined, so they sit outside the trade in rough diamonds that the Kimberley Process was set up to keep conflict diamonds out of.
Are lab grown diamonds more ethical than mined diamonds?
As I see it, they take mining out of the picture, and diamond mining has been linked to human rights abuses in several countries. Mined stones aren’t automatically a bad choice, though. If you’d prefer a Canadian mined diamond, I’ll source it for your piece too.
Are lab grown diamonds sustainable?
Two parts of it are easy to check, the stone isn’t mined, and the metal it’s set in is 99.5 percent repurposed gold or platinum. I skip carbon and water figures here. They need a source you can check.
Is “ethical” just a marketing word?
Sometimes, and that’s the fair criticism of lab grown diamonds too. Run any ethical claim through three checks.
- Is the stone graded by an independent lab?
- Does the seller say what the metal is?
- Does any certification they name actually cover that product?
The Kimberley Process, for one, covers rough mined diamonds, not lab grown stones.
You can read more about Lux Jewels’ sustainability goal and how the metal fits into it.
Moissanite looks similar, but I’d point out it’s silicon carbide, not a diamond at all; see how moissanite compares to a lab grown diamond.
With that settled, the shape comes next.
Responsibly Crafted
Every piece is designed with you over video call and handcrafted by Lux Jewels’ goldsmiths, with your diamond set in 99.5 percent repurposed gold or platinum. I’ve worked in jewellery since 2007, and you don’t need to be nearby to work with me.
The process is the same wherever you live in Canada or the USA: a video call to plan the design, your approval of the stone, then 4 to 5 weeks from deposit to a finished piece that ships insured.
Suman Smith, founder of Lux Jewels
