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De Beers uses rare diamond cuts and artisanal sourcing to defend natural diamonds from lab-grown rivals
The natural-diamond business is leaning harder on provenance, craft and rarity because lab-grown stones keep getting cheaper.
De Beers used London Fashion Week to launch its Vibrations high-jewelry collection, including an unusual cabochon diamond cut and stones sourced through programs connected to artisanal mining communities.
Why it matters
Lab-grown diamonds can closely reproduce the physical material of a mined diamond, so natural-diamond brands increasingly compete on everything around the stone: rarity, origin, craftsmanship and story.
That makes high jewelry a useful example of how luxury tries to protect value when technology makes the underlying object easier to reproduce.
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