Jeremy Scharlack's Blog: Diamonds

August 17, 2003

Diamonds

Fascinating article in Wired about synthetic diamonds via Ampersand via Blueheron.

Two companies, Gemesis and Apollo Diamond have created processes to synthesize gem quality diamonds inexpensively. There are great benefits not just for gems but for semiconductors as well.

It also could screw over one of the worst monopolies in the world: De Beers. They create artificial scarcity and get stones from less than totally ethical situations and created the engagement ring tradition as a marketing ploy.

If I ever get engaged and I need to buy a ring I would make a distinct effort to buy a non De Beers ring. I would have gotten a Canadian diamond before, but this looks even more interesting. My grandfather was a diamond merchant and I would love to reset one of his rings with a high quality synthetic diamond.

Posted by Jeremy at 11:38 PM | Link | TrackBack (0)

Comments

"If I ever get engaged and I need to buy a ring..."
It IS possible to get engaged without buying a diamond ring. Why do people not see that? Do we all have to wear store name t-shirts and drink Coca Cola?
And if you say that a woman might be insulted by the lack of a diamond for an engagement - that means she's ignorant of what it really means, and maybe even superficial and money grubbing to boot. And if you're okay with that kind of woman - then you SHOULD buy a diamond anyway - and maybe bend right over for De Beers. heh.

Posted by: Chloe from here at August 19, 2003 09:32 AM | link

While I would certainly appreciate a woman who didn't feel she didn't need a ring to get engaged, if my hypothetical future fiancee wants a shiny ring, than she will get one. There is nothing inherently wrong with diamonds; they are quite pretty. I would just prefer to get one not metaphorically stained with blood. A ring is a minor, unimportant part of an engagement and its presence or absence isn't important to me.

Of course I am getting ahead of myself. I am not even dating anyone now.

Posted by: Jeremy from here at August 19, 2003 11:13 PM | link