Almost every engagement conversation we have now opens with this question, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a sales pitch. So here is ours, plainly: we sell both. We will always tell you which one you are looking at. And the right choice depends far less on which stone is "better" than on what you want your money to do.
This guide sets out the difference honestly, including the parts that do not flatter either option.
The short answer
A lab-grown diamond is a real diamond. It is the same mineral as a mined one, with the same hardness, the same optical properties and the same sparkle. It is not a fake, and it is not the same thing as cubic zirconia.
What differs is rarity, price and what happens to the stone's value afterwards:
- A lab-grown diamond costs a fraction of a natural one. Across our own rings, the natural version currently runs between roughly two and twelve times the lab-grown price.
- That fraction keeps shrinking, because lab-grown supply keeps growing. Natural supply does not.
- A natural diamond has a resale market. A lab-grown diamond largely does not.
Put simply: if you want the biggest, cleanest, brightest stone your budget will stretch to, lab-grown will get you there and it will not be close. If what moves you is that this particular stone formed in the earth over billions of years and cannot be made again, that is a real thing to value, and only a natural stone carries it. Neither answer is the sophisticated one.
What a lab-grown diamond actually is
Diamond is crystallised carbon. It sits at 10 on the Mohs scale, the hardest natural substance there is, which is why we recommend it for rings above any other stone. A lab-grown diamond is that same crystallised carbon, grown in a machine instead of underground.
There are two methods in commercial use. HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) reproduces the pressure and heat of the earth's mantle. CVD (chemical vapour deposition) builds the crystal up layer by layer from carbon-rich gas. Both take weeks rather than eons, and both produce a stone that a gemmologist cannot distinguish from a mined diamond by eye, by loupe, or by any test you could run in a shop.
Identifying one takes specialised laboratory equipment that reads growth patterns and trace elements. This is precisely why disclosure matters so much, and why almost every lab-grown stone of any size is laser-inscribed on its girdle with its report number and the words "laboratory-grown". You will need magnification to read it, but it is there.
Where moissanite fits, and why it is a separate question
Moissanite comes up constantly in the same conversation, and it is worth separating out, because it is not a diamond at all.
Moissanite is silicon carbide. It was identified by the French chemist Henri Moissan in 1893 in a meteorite crater in Arizona, and while it does occur in nature, it is vanishingly rare, so all the moissanite in jewellery is grown. It sits just below diamond for hardness and it throws noticeably more coloured fire, which some people love and some people find gives it away.
We use moissanite in several designs, including the Tate Signet Ring and the Bambu and Selene pieces, and we are always explicit about it. The distinction to hold onto is this: a lab-grown diamond is a diamond, and moissanite is a different stone that happens to look similar. Both are legitimate choices. They are simply not the same choice.
What the difference actually costs
Rather than quote industry averages, here are three of our own rings that are offered with either stone, in the same setting, in the same metal. These are live prices at the time of writing.
| Ring | Centre stone | Lab-grown | Natural | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaia | 3ct radiant cut, white | $12,550 | $81,770 | 6.5× |
| Flow | 3ct oval cut, white | $6,570 | $82,105 | 12.5× |
| Arya | 2ct marquise, champagne | $7,135 | $16,415 | 2.3× |
All three are 18k yellow gold, and all prices are in Australian dollars. Please treat the product pages as the authority, since stone availability moves these numbers.
Two things in that table are worth pausing on.
The first is that on Kaia and Flow, the natural stone is actually the lower graded stone. Kaia's lab-grown centre is G colour, VVS2 to VS2 clarity; its natural centre is I to J colour, SI1 clarity, and costs six and a half times more. You are not paying that premium for a better-looking diamond. You are paying it for scarcity.
The second is Arya. The gap collapses to 2.3× because the stone is a champagne diamond, and natural fancy browns were never priced like natural whites to begin with. If a coloured stone appeals to you, the natural option may be far closer to reach than you assume. That is worth a conversation.
Why the gap is so wide, and why it keeps moving
Growing capacity has expanded enormously, and the wholesale price of lab-grown diamonds has fallen accordingly. Industry analyst Edahn Golan puts the decline at around 96% since mid-2018, with prices still easing but the fall now slowing markedly, down about 13% year on year in the second quarter of 2026 and showing signs of settling.
This has one consequence worth stating out loud, because most jewellers will not. A lab-grown diamond you buy today may well be available more cheaply, brand new, in a few years. That does not make it a bad purchase. It makes it a purchase to judge on what you get to wear, rather than on what it will be worth later.
Natural diamond prices move on entirely different logic, tied to finite supply from a shrinking number of mines. They are not immune to falling either. They simply do not fall for the same reasons.
Certification, and the change you should know about
This is the part that has quietly caught a lot of shoppers out.
On 1 October 2025, the GIA stopped applying its traditional 4Cs grading to laboratory-grown diamonds. Its position was that more than 95% of lab-grown stones entering the market fall into a very narrow band of colour and clarity, so the scale built for natural diamonds no longer told anyone much. Lab-grown stones submitted to the GIA now receive a descriptive assessment of either Premium or Standard instead of individual colour and clarity grades, and stones below a minimum quality receive no designation at all.
Other laboratories, the IGI chief among them, continue to issue full colour and clarity grades for lab-grown stones. That is why our lab-grown diamonds carry IGI reports with familiar-looking grades, while our natural diamonds are GIA certified, conflict free and compliant with the Kimberley Process.
The practical warning: a "D VS1" on a lab-grown report and a "D VS1" on a natural report come from different laboratories applying different scales to different products. Do not read them as interchangeable, and be wary of any seller who encourages you to.
Resale, insurance, and the honest version
Lab-grown diamonds have very little resale market. Because new stones keep getting cheaper, there is limited reason for anyone to buy a used one, and you should assume that a lab-grown stone is bought to be worn, not to be sold.
In fairness, the natural side of this is oversold too. A natural diamond also resells for a good deal less than you paid, because retail price includes design, craft and margin that no resale buyer pays for. The difference is one of degree, and it is a real difference, but "natural diamonds hold their value" is a much softer claim than the trade usually makes it sound.
Insurance treats them differently as well. A policy will cover replacement at the item's agreed value, so a lab-grown ring is cheaper to insure and cheaper to replace. We do recommend insuring anything you wear daily, and we point clients to Q Report, though we have no stake in it.
Everything else we offer applies equally either way: the same workmanship, the same settings, free resizing within 60 days, and our recommendation to have any ring serviced annually. Our care guide applies identically to both, because physically they are the same stone.
The sustainability question
We are going to be careful here, because this is the area where the industry makes the loosest claims, and regulators have started pushing back hard.
In May 2026 the UK's Advertising Standards Authority ruled against lab-grown sellers for using the word "diamond" without making it clear and prominent that the stones were laboratory-grown. The US Federal Trade Commission has separately warned sellers off unsubstantiated environmental claims such as "eco-friendly" or "green" for lab-grown stones. Australian Consumer Law already prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct, and we would expect the same scrutiny to arrive here.
So we will not tell you lab-grown is the green option. Growing diamonds is energy intensive, and the footprint depends enormously on what powers the reactor. Mining carries genuine land and water impacts, and also sustains communities and economies that would struggle without it. Credible like-for-like comparisons are scarce and most of the ones circulating are commissioned by one side or the other.
What we can tell you is what we actually do. We use recycled gold and silver wherever possible. Our natural diamonds are GIA certified, conflict free and comply with the Kimberley Process, and we focus hard on ethically mined coloured stones, many of them Australian.
And if environmental impact is genuinely your deciding factor, the lowest-impact option is not on either side of this debate. It is using a stone that already exists. Remodelling an heirloom uses no newly grown and no newly mined stone at all, and it tends to produce the pieces people are most attached to.
It is not only diamonds
Lab-grown coloured stones are now a large part of what we work with, and they are frequently the reason a design is possible at all. A vivid three carat pink sapphire of natural origin would be extraordinarily expensive and extremely hard to source in a matching pair or a specific shade. Grown, it becomes achievable.
We use lab-grown sapphire, ruby, aquamarine and hydrothermal emerald across a number of pieces, alongside natural Australian parti and ink blue sapphires, natural champagne diamonds and natural opals. Our gemstone guide covers the natural stones we work with most often.
The same rule governs all of it: we tell you which is which, on the product page and in the room.
How to choose
When the decision stalls, these are the questions that tend to unstick it.
- What is fixed, the budget or the stone? If you have a number and you want the most presence for it, lab-grown wins outright and it is not a close contest.
- Does origin matter to you emotionally? Some people care deeply that the stone is ancient and finite. Others find that idea does nothing for them. Both reactions are common and neither needs justifying.
- Is this replacing or continuing something? If there is a family stone involved, remodelling usually beats buying anything new.
- Are you thinking of it as an asset? If yes, be realistic. Fine jewellery is a poor investment vehicle generally, and lab-grown especially so.
- How large a stone do you want? The gap widens sharply with size. At two and three carats it is the difference between one ring and quite a different ring, so it is worth deciding the carat you actually want before you decide the origin, rather than the other way round.
There is also a middle path worth knowing about: a natural centre stone with lab-grown accents, or the reverse. Our lab-grown Stella ring, for instance, pairs a lab-grown centre stone with natural white diamond pavé. Nothing obliges you to choose one origin for the entire ring.
Ask us, and we will tell you
Every piece we make is described by what it is. If a stone is grown, our product page says so, your quote says so, and your certificate says so. If you are ever unsure what you are looking at, anywhere, ask the seller to put the origin of the centre stone in writing. A jeweller who hesitates has told you something.
If you would like to see the two side by side, that is genuinely the fastest way to decide, and it is worth doing before you commit to either. Book an appointment at the Melbourne studio, or start a bespoke enquiry and tell us what you are imagining. We will give you the same straight answer in person that we have given you here.