How did a De Beers exec get into lab-grown diamonds? National Jeweler
By Joan Parker
??It may take billions of years to create diamonds beneath the earth, but no one would care if it were not for the very clever advertising of De Beers.
?I should know, as I was very much part of the team that kept the "mystique" of diamonds alive for almost 30 years while I ran the Diamond Information Center.
?"So what is it like," ask a lot of people in the trade when meeting me, "to go from De Beers to a company that makes diamonds in a lab?" ?
As many in the trade now know, I became the ambassador and advisor to the board for Gemesis Corp. a year ago April. After many years of watching diamonds being recovered at various De Beers-owned mines, it was no less fascinating to see a rough diamond being created above the earth, in four days and in a lab. When you start explaining the process to the media, the general public and even some retailers, they marvel at the technology.?
For the record, I left my job with De Beers LV in June 2006 after spending three years working with the De Beers-Louis Vuitton retail venture. I was enjoying the summer off in Fire Island, N.Y., before heading to Palm Beach, Fla., for the season in 2007. Enter General Carter Clarke, the founder of Gemesis, who happened to live in Palm Beach. After many lunches and meetings, I was convinced that this incredible technology would transform the diamond industry, and I wanted to become part of it. I also loved the idea of a new challenge.
?However, before signing any contracts, I was scheduled to meet with Nicky and Jonathan Oppenheimer (the chairman of De Beers and his son, respectively) in Toronto so I could tell them my plans, face to face.
?Needless to say, they were not happy (though they were gracious) and they tried to warn me that I would be part of a venture that could bring down the price of diamonds. After assuring them and people at the Diamond Trading Co. that I would not, in any way, speak negatively about mined diamonds, I moved on.?
My first exposure to the trade after my appointment was in May of last year at the Las Vegas trade shows. Two people I respect in London who were associated with De Beers warned me that I would lose all of my friends in the industry and my reputation would be tarnished as well, so I had, of course, some concerns.?
However, it has been proven true today that the diamond trade did not forget what I did for all of those years and, in fact, many have said "well done" for having made the move.?
That does not mean, however, that everyone embraced these fancy-colored Gemesis diamonds with open arms. First, I had to tackle the press to get the Gemesis partners' diamond jewelry into the magazines.
?"Which retailers carry the product?" and "Which designer names create the jewelry?" were always the first press questions.?
One of my first projects was to get Taryn Rose, known for high-end shoes and technology, to agree to create a limited-edition jewelry line. I soon learned that a designer name meant a lot to the consumer but not necessarily to the retailer.
?I walked in the door of retailers in every market I happened to visit. About half knew about Gemesis, and half thought I was coming to talk about what they understood to be a cheap synthetic.?
As soon as I was able to explain that these were diamonds and that they were certified by the Gemological Institute of America and other labs, jewelers started to listen. The biggest challenge, however, was to try to convince retailers that a line of Gemesis diamond jewelry could coexist in a store that carried expensive natural-diamond jewelry. It is my belief that the Gemesis customer is someone who already loves diamonds and will consider lab-gown fancy colors at a good price, but still has an interest in natural diamonds as well.?
The barriers are beginning to break. After making many visits to a store on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, the owner's eyes lit up when I told him we had a fancy-color vivid-yellow necklace with 72 diamonds totaling more than 64 carats that he could put in his store for the month of April to see if he could sell it. When he looked at the diamonds, and his staff got excited, he came on board. We're eagerly awaiting the results.
?A Town and Country section last January reinforced the "It Is A Diamond" slogan that is now being used by Gemesis, and another big diamond section we are participating in with other jewelers will do the same in the magazine's June and July issues.
?I will never give up the 5.8-carat pear-shaped natural-diamond ring sitting on my left hand. But my three-stone Gemesis-grown fancy-vivid-yellow diamond ring now sits on my right.
