meet our founders

Secondary title goes here

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

<h2>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Secondary title goes here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.</h2>

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. While the purest diamonds are colourless and transparent, mineral impurities can give diamonds hues ranging from white and grey to purple and black.

Coloured diamonds still have some value, but the price of coloured diamonds depends on the hue and intensity of the colour. When talking about the clarity of diamonds, experts talk about ‘inclusions’. This basically just means any imperfection which impacts the clarity of the gem, which might be hollow areas, fractures, or other material trapped inside.

As you’ll have guessed by now, these inclusions can impact the price of diamonds, as they shift them to a lower grade.

Not to be confused with ‘karat’, which describes the purity of precious metals, ‘carat’ is the weight measurement of gemstones, with 1 carat equalling 200 milligrams.

Not all carats command the same price, though. Since smaller gems are more common, 1 carat made up of 7 smaller diamonds will still be cheaper than a 1-carat single diamond. Secondary title goes here You’ll have heard the phrase “Diamonds are forever”, but did you know this is just a marketing slogan conjured up by the De Beers diamond corporation?

Before other companies like ALROSA and Rio Tinto arrived on the scene, De Beers controlled 85% of all the world’s rough diamonds, and even now owns around 40%.

The problem with one company having so much control of a market is that it can directly fix diamond prices. Each season, De Beers holds an event called ‘sights’, where diamond dealers from around the world decide the market price of diamonds for the coming months.

De Beers and its partners will then restrict the supply of gems to the market to artificially raise the price of diamonds, and have been known to flood the market at times when they want to force competitors out of the market.

Unlike the precious metal trade, where the price of gold and platinum is established based on their rarity and the genuine balance of supply and demand in the market, the price of diamonds is fixed by a syndicate of diamond traders out for profit.

Secondary title goes here The factors mentioned above, plus attempts at standardised pricing, branded cut styles, multiple middle-men, the cost of maintenance, and the higher level of speciality required to work with uncut gems all impact the prices of specific diamonds.

The thing is, diamonds don’t really deserve their inflated price tag.

Companies like De Beers are able to withhold diamonds or flood the market on command because diamonds are just way more common than you’d think. It’s estimated that for every gram of gold on earth, there are 400,000 grams of diamonds.

It’s also now possible to grow synthetic diamonds in labs, which are chemically identical to those found in nature.

Since they lack an intrinsic market value beyond marketing hype, diamonds are not a good investment. As a consumer, you’ll be lucky to resell most diamonds at half the price you pay for them.