The March issue of IDEX Magazine is out. The cover story invites readers to consider the future of the diamond industry, specifically the bulk of diamond mining production, those rough diamonds that are cut and polished to become melee.
Is there a chance that we can soon stop talking about synthetic or lab-grown diamonds (LGDs)? I really hope so. We need to focus on marketing and selling diamonds. And melee is the bread and butter of the entire supply pipeline.
But first, the diamond industry and trade needs to stop screaming foul. During the past decades, the industry has been discussing, arguing and sometimes even kicking and screaming against the tendency to call synthetic diamonds…indeed, diamonds.
Throughout the years, I have witnessed grown men and women getting worked up and all emotional, arguing passionately that LGDs cannot be called diamonds because they dare not. However, their arguments were driven by emotion, not by reason.
How different the world of their colleagues in the colored gemstone industry and trade is! Since the late 19th century, colored gemstone cutters and traders have grappled with ever-growing varieties of synthetic counterparts of colored gemstones, not only of the Big Three – emerald, ruby and sapphire – but also of countless other valuable and often popular colored gemstone species.
In contrast, the diamond industry has been extremely privileged, as until quite recently, it never had to face such challenges. Add to that the industry’s insular character and, let’s admit it, a good measure of complacency and an exaggerated feeling of self-importance, and you have the makings of a real panic attack when a challenge such as LGDs comes around.
For the rest of this article: http://www.idexonline.com/Memo?Id=44629