I can sort of give the people living in 30's a pass, they didn't have free access to the information on all the cruelty involved in the diamond trade, and didn't employ enough critical thinking to know that 'more expensive = better' isn't true
But now we do, as well as the ability to lab-grow them with less flaws for a fraction of the cost, then people are just choosing to enrich the De Beers cartel because they enjoy having cruelty attached to their diamonds
Yeah but then lab grown makes no point. So better don't buy diamonds at all.
Since diamond are a case of illusion of antiquity or feel of royality/rarity. And you buy rarity you don't make one of your own.if so, then the ''rare" term would be pointless. The LGD (lab-grown-diamonds) supporters might not be wrong but then there's no point of buying LGD too, The moment you can mass-produce an identical one in a lab, the concept of "rarity" is dead or better carry a beautiful roadside pebble, polish it and make a ring out of it.
Gold is gold because stars died making it and still it can't be replicated, Diamonds, on the other hand, can be easily engineered because they're just carbon. Lab diamonds are chemically identical, sure, but in the luxury market, they function like a "first copy" that completely kills the prestige of the original and intrinsic value.
I'm Not in any support of the cruel history attached to the diamonds. Diamonds aren't de beers personal discovery but buying is based entirely upon his idea of ingenuity.
Gems are aesthetically pleasing to a lot of people, the price shouldn't mater, and the colour of wedding rings(another social construct if you want to go down that route) and what if any stones are on them should be up to the wearers
Yes rarity gives value, but your statement that:
The moment you can mass-produce an identical one in a lab
isn't true, say a molecularly identical Mona Lisa were made in a lab, the original would still be more rarer and thus valuable because it is still 'the Mona Lisa', the chemical make up isn't the only thing that can make an object rare, its history for example
There aren't 1000s of mona lisa in the world, when someone buys one it's obviously a fake one and that's a different thing, but diamonds? You are juggling whether you want da Vinci's or dr vinci's? That was my whole point, it's the thin beam we walk upon.
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u/PwanaZana 15d ago
hey! diamonds have plenty of industrial uses! :P