【Paris, Franc】”Lab-grown synthetic diamonds are a true revolution in the world of jewelry”: Persta works with both natural and synthetic stones

Traceability is what’s important in lab-grown diamonds. In terms of quality, it’s the same; there are several purities and several different colors. With synthetic diamonds, we can have blue, green, yellow, and pink diamonds that are very rarely found in nature – with the exception of the most famous one, the Hope blue diamond mentioned in the film Titanic. These are stones worth fortunes and are very, very rare in nature. Our clients can get much more beautiful stones with lab-grown diamonds, and since the prices are lower, it allows them to buy a top-quality diamond at a price that is still below that of a medium-quality natural diamond. Synthetic diamonds are a little more than twice cheaper for a better quality.

Jewelry houses now juggle between natural diamonds forged by billions of years deep within the earth and synthetic diamonds manufactured in the laboratory.

Founded in 2017 by Guilhem and Olivier Bourlard Faivre d’Arcier, Persta combines traditional know-how with the elegance of contemporary design. Guilhem is the artistic director in visual communication, and his twin brother Olivier – a graduate of the Haute École de Joaillerie de Paris – was a model maker at Boucheron’s workshop. The creative co-directors offer timeless jewelry, likely to be passed down from generation to generation. In their boutique workshop on Rue Sainte-Anastase in the Marais district of Paris, the thirty-somethings imagine, design, and manufacture their collections by hand using certified sustainable and recycled gold and natural and synthetic diamonds, while claiming a local footprint to limit the carbon impact of their activities.

All diamonds are certified by independent laboratories: GIA (Gemological Institute of America for natural diamonds), HRD Antwerp, or IGI (International Gemological Institute for synthetic diamonds) once they exceed 0.3 carats. Even though in the late 1990s the Kimberley Process put an end to the trade in blood diamonds by guaranteeing they are conflict-free, it remains an opaque market.

The difference lies in its mode of formation: instead of forming naturally in the depths of the Earth over billions of years like natural diamonds, synthetic ones are created in the laboratory under controlled conditions, thereby reducing their environmental impact and improving working conditions. It is created from pure carbon by recreating the extreme conditions (temperature and pressure) present at the heart of the Earth. Each diamond is unique, the result of a process combining the precision of science and the magic of nature.
Creation relies on two processes: the HPHT (High Pressure, High Temperature) method – which has existed since the 70s – and involves placing a tiny diamond in a press and subjecting it to extreme pressures (several tens of gigapascals) and high temperatures (1,500°C), thus reproducing the formation conditions of natural diamonds. The CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method – which has existed since the 90s – uses chemical vapor deposition in a low-pressure, hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Carbon atoms then deposit onto a substrate, gradually forming a diamond crystal. This method requires less energy.

If natural diamonds are still criticized today for their lack of ethics, can’t synthetic diamonds be criticized for being energy-intensive?