Engagement ring trends

By Maddison Leach| 6 months ago

A decade ago, lab-grown diamonds were hardly ever used in engagement rings. Now they're expected to make up almost 40% of engagement rings by the end of 2023.

For centuries we've been told natural or mined diamonds are a rare, luxury commodity and lab-grown options are 'fake', but the tide is about to turn.

"It's just like such an ill-informed way to describe these stones," says Rebecca Klondinsky, co-founder of The Prestwick Place.

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With Australia in the grip of a cost of living crisis, everyone is looking for ways to save money, even on luxuries like engagement rings. 

The Prestwick Place specialises in creating jewellery from world-class lab-grown diamonds and moissanite that are proven to be better for the environment and your back pocket.

A three-carat mined diamond of excellent quality and clarity could set you back up to $150,000, well out of pretty much any Aussie's budget.

For a lab-grown diamond with the exact same specs you'll pay about $30,000, Londinsky reveals. That's a $120,000 saving.

You can save even more by opting for moissanite, the only white stone that rivals diamond for its optical similarities, which will cost about $7,000 for excellent quality and clarity.

"When Moissanite was first discovered, they actually thought they had found diamond," Klondinsky adds of the brilliant white stone.

"It wasn't until they ran chemical tests in the lab that the chemical composition of the stone was revealed to be different to diamond."

First-time clients and couples upgrading a wedding ring after 30 years of wearing a mined diamond both can't spot the difference between a 'natural' or lab-grown stone.

Really, the only difference between the stones is that some are formed in the earth and others are made under the exact same settings in a controlled lab environment.

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"They are grown to the same specs as a natural diamond. They're faceted the same as a natural diamond. They're certified by the same people that certify natural diamonds," she adds.

"The problem is it doesn't sound as sexy as a mined diamond, and we've been told for so long that X amount of dollars so many months of a wage has to be spent on a diamond."

Natural diamonds are also plummeting in popularity as Aussies realise the mining process and diamond industry is wreaking havoc on the environment and human rights.

Movies like Blood Diamond (2006) opened peoples' eyes to the dark underbelly of the diamond industry and social media is shifting the narrative around mined diamonds.

"Mined diamonds are associated with ecological devastation, slave labour, child labour," explains Klondinsky.

Forced labor, beatings, torture, and murder have been reported in diamond mines across Africa, where children are often paid less than a dollar a day to work.

The diamond industry has been linked to bloody conflicts in the past and mines currently dump up to 150 million tonnes of toxic waste around the world every year.

Mined diamonds are also marked up by up to 300 per cent when sold, but Aussies are no longer happy to pay high prices for stones that just aren't sustainable.

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In the next year alone we can expect to see a lot more lab-grown stones in jewellery store windows, and engagement ring designs are going to change hugely too.

Customers are searching for unique, customisable rings like The Prestwick Place's two-stone styles, which we can expect to become more common in the future.

"Because we can customise, we get requests to change [a ring] to a canary yellow diamond and a white stone, or a really skinny stone for the husband," Klondinsky says.

Loved-up customers gravitate towards two-stone rings because they symbolise coming together and Aussies love being able to propose with a handmade, customised ring.

The Prestwick Place employs in-house jewellers that make each ring to order so that every gram of metal is accounted for and used, with no over-run and or wastage.

Creating a single gold ring can produce 20 tonnes of waste and mainstream jewellery companies are pumping out identical engagement rings en masse.

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"A lot of brands are sending their orders or having their stuff made offshore and they've got bulk amounts of materials, then you've got overrun," Klondinsky reveals.

"You can go to a jeweller and buy something off the shelf, but are you okay with wearing a ring that 500 other women would be wearing because it's made from a mould?"

It's not just unique engagement rings that are taking off either. One of The Prestwick Place's most popular styles is a snake-like ring divorced women keep buying.

"They're selling to the ladies that are having divorce parties. They like that it's a snake, it's shedding its skin," Klondinsky says.

Celebrities like Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna and Meghan Markle have also been spotted sporting lab-grown stones lately.

Now she's urging Australians to set aside the notion that a mined diamond is inherently better and instead embrace a more sustainable future for all their jewellery.

"With all these technological advancements and the way we live our lives now… it's naive of us to not be able to accept or grasp a new concept around this," she adds.

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The Prestwick Place launched less than two years ago after she and partner Lachie Henderson did a deep dive into the sustainability of diamonds and decided to shake up the industry here in Australia.

In the first 16 months alone the brand racked up more than $1.5 million in sales, with that figure set to spike in the coming years.

Though breaking into a male-dominated industry can be intimidating, Klondinsky uses her femininity to her advantage.

"You have this image of a man with a tan, a bit older, bright white teeth… historically it's just been a little bit intimidating," she says.

"I love to be this really soft, feminine, small girl doing this because I'm speaking to an audience that was not spoken to before."

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