Pandora launches lab-grown diamond collection in North America
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The lab-created diamond collection is part of the company’s aim to transform the market for diamond jewellery with more affordable products, while also "greatly reducing CO2 emissions" after the jewellery brand ceased using mined diamonds last year.
Pandora chief executive, Alexander Lacik, said in a statement: “The future of luxury is here today. Lab-created diamonds are just as beautiful as mined diamonds, but available to more people and with lower carbon emissions. We are proud to broaden the diamond market and offer innovative jewellery that sets a new standard for how the industry can reduce its impact on the planet.”
The 33-piece Pandora Brilliance collection features rings, bangles, necklaces and earrings, each featuring a solitary, VS+ clarity lab-created diamond hand-set within sterling silver, solid 14K yellow gold or solid 14K white gold. The collection will utilise diamonds grown in the US using 100 percent renewable energy. The diamonds will have a carbon footprint of only 8.17 kilograms CO2e per carat, which is five percent of that of a mined diamond.
Pandora targets US growth with lab-grown diamond jewellery collection
Pandora states that lab-created diamonds are identical to mined diamonds and have the same optical, chemical, thermal and physical characteristics and are graded by the same standards known as the 4Cs – cut, colour, clarity and carat.
The jewellery brand notes that if all diamonds were mined with the same low carbon footprint as Pandora’s lab-created diamonds, it would save more than 6 million tons of CO2e annually.
The collection is also the first to be entirely made of recycled silver and gold, as part of Pandora’s commitment to reducing the climate impact of its jewellery, following its announcement that it plans to phase mined metals out by 2025.
The jeweller said the greenhouse gas emissions of the collection’s entry-priced silver ring with 0.15-carat lab-created diamond costing 300 US dollars is down to 2.7 kilograms CO2e, which is equal “to the average emissions of a T-shirt”. While the flagship one-carat lab-created diamond set in a 14k solid gold ring, retailing for 1,950 US dollars, has a footprint of 10.4kilograms CO2e, which it adds is “less than the average emissions of a pair of jeans”.
Brilliance marks the first collection under the new Diamonds by Pandora category, as the jeweller targets growth in the US, which is the world’s largest diamond jewellery market. Currently, the global diamond jewellery market is estimated to be 84 billion US dollars and is expected to continue to grow.
The Pandora Brilliance collection will be available to purchase from August 25 across 269 Pandora stores in the US and Canada and at pandora.net. Prices start from 300 US dollars and each stone ranges from 0.15 to one carat.