Editor’s Note
This article examines the strategic retreat of De Beers from its lab-grown diamond venture, Lightbox, highlighting the dramatic price collapse in the synthetic market and its implications for the broader jewelry industry.
In 2018, the giant De Beers Group made waves by launching Lightbox Jewelry, its first collection of synthetic diamonds. The idea was to capture a younger clientele, sensitive to price and ethical issues. But seven years later, the project is officially abandoned.
Why? Because the resale value of these lab-created stones has collapsed – a 90% drop in wholesale prices according to Al Cook, CEO of the group. This gradual market disaffection, coupled with competitive overbidding from China and American supermarkets, precipitated the decision.
This closure is part of a refocusing strategy announced in 2024: De Beers is rationalizing its portfolio and concentrating on its most profitable activities. The investments allocated to Lightbox will be redirected towards marketing and enhancing the value of natural diamonds, the group’s historically dominant segment.
De Beers is not, however, completely turning its back on lab-grown diamonds. Its subsidiary Element Six, based in Oregon, continues the production of synthetic diamonds, but exclusively for technological uses: semiconductors, optics, quantum technologies…
This announcement could impact trends observed in Parisian houses, from Place Vendôme to the new confidential galleries in the Marais. By repositioning natural diamonds as the sole luxury reference, De Beers sends a clear message: true brilliance is not manufactured, it is discovered.
Lightbox is no more, but the matter is far from closed. By favoring rarity over reproducibility, De Beers is reshuffling the cards in a rapidly changing sector.