Lightbox Jewelry – the De Beers Group’s lab-created diamond jewellery brand – has launched a trial of engagement ring offerings, a notable shift in stance for the company.
The collection includes 16 items featuring lab-created diamonds, including white and blue diamonds, which prices ranging from $AU895 to $AU8,950.
Speaking to the media, a spokesperson for Lightbox Jewelry said that it was a ‘small in-market test’ of consumer preferences in the lab-created diamond engagement ring segment.
“When De Beers launched Lightbox in 2018, Bruce Cleaver, the miner’s CEO at the time, presented lab-created as a product that ‘may not be forever, but is perfect for right now,’ writes Joshua Freedman of Rapaport News.
“[He] claimed there was ‘no real emotional value in lab-created diamonds, because they’re not unique,’ and said the diamonds did not warrant grading. [Lightbox] later debuted the Finest line, introduced diamonds larger than one carat, and started declaring the cut quality, colour, and clarity of its diamonds.”
In an interview with JCK Online earlier this month, Lightbox Jewelry CEO Antonie Borde said that any future decisions concerning engagement rings would be determined by consumer sentiment.
“It’s a matter of listening to the consumer. We have a lot of consumers who ask, ‘when are you going to sell engagement rings?’ By the way, our loose stone business has done very well,” he said.
“It’s possible those diamonds might be used for something outside of Lightbox. I can’t answer precisely this question, but for now we don’t have [engagement rings] in our range. But that’s a very, very consistent message [we are getting]. We are focused on listening to our consumers, because at the end of the day, it’s important to answer their demands.”
In the latest analysis of the US jewellery market from Tenoris, the average retail price of lab-created diamonds declined 9.6 per cent in May compared with April.
“The simple equation of rising demand leading to higher prices is not happening in the lab-created diamond sector and for a compelling reason,” writes Edahn Golan.
“The primary price drivers are oversupply that reduces prices, prompting a deep need of the midstream to sell rapidly to avoid inventory price erosion. Ironically, that advances prices down even further.”
Sales of natural diamonds continued to decrease in May, with the number units sold declining 16.5 per cent on a year-on-year comparison. The value of sales decreased 20.6 per cent, completing a year of sales decline.
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Lightbox launches loose lab-created diamonds for consumers
