The diamond industry experienced quite a shift in the past few years as the hum of lab-grown diamonds quickly rose to a violent roar. Lab-grown, man-made, aboveground—whatever you choose to call them—diamonds might seem like a new concept, but the truth is that scientists have been toying around with the idea ever since they discovered in 1797 that diamonds are simply pure carbon that reflects light back. Whip some of that up in a laboratory, and you’ve got yourself a wildly beneficial product to be used in industrial applications due to its extremely hard surface, scratch resistance, and thermal conductivity.
When I first heard about lab-grown diamonds, I was very confused. Are they real? Are they expensive? How are they even made? Why would I buy a lab-grown diamond if I could have a "real" diamond? The list of pressing questions went on and on. Beth Gerstein, the CEO and co-founder of Brilliant Earth gave me a pretty solid definition of what a lab-grown diamond actually is: "Lab diamonds are grown in highly controlled laboratory environments using advanced technology that mimics the conditions under which diamonds naturally develop when they form in the mantle beneath the Earth’s crust. Lab diamonds consist of actual carbon atoms arranged in the characteristic diamond crystal structure. As a result, they have the same physical, chemical, and optical characteristics as natural diamonds and exhibit the same fire, scintillation, and sparkle."
Source: Who What Wear – Lauren Eggertsen