, Columnist
Diamonds Aren't Forever
Who wants to seal an engagement with something whose price makes it feel little better than costume jewelry?
De Beers is trying to kill a nascent sector before it gets any bigger.
Photographer: Baerbel Schmidt/Getty Images
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For the inheritor of a century-old oligopoly that once held the world diamond trade in its fist, De Beers Group Chief Executive Officer Bruce Cleaver has an odd approach to marketing.
“Lab-grown are not special, they’re not real, they’re not unique. You can make exactly the same one again and again,” he told Thomas Biesheuvel of Bloomberg News Tuesday, after announcing that the Anglo American Plc-controlled company would start selling synthetic gem diamonds for as little as $800 a carat from September.