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Editorial: What Downton Abbey Has To Do With Synthetic Diamonds | March 08, 2016 (1 comment)
Merrick, NY—Downton Abbey fans who watched the More Manners of Downton Abbey documentary know how important it is to heed the butler’s gong.
In two documentaries that detail upper-class English life in the Edwardian era, Alistair Bruce, historical advisor for the Downton Abbey series, explains the intricate rules governing every behavior from eating to dressing to speaking and more. One unbreakable rule is that when the butler rings the gong an hour before dinner, one drops whatever he or she is doing and goes up to dress for dinner. It’s an imperative no one ignores.
Last week the gong rang for the jewelry industry, metaphorically. Three things came across my inbox in the space of one week: a video on the subject of manmade diamonds; the announcement that Stuller is adding manmade diamonds to its product offering; and finally, the discussion in GIA’s Gems & Gemology about a five-carat fancy blue synthetic diamond.
A 5.03 ct Fancy Deep blue HPHT synthetic diamond was examined by GIA (left). Faint but sharp color zoning was observed (middle, field of view 4.77 mm) along with small metallic inclusions and a cavity at the girdle (right, field of view 2.19 mm). Photos by Sood (Oil) Judy Chia (left) and Kyaw Soe Moe (center and right), courtesy GIA/G&G
Not convinced? Those three things come on top of the launch of Diamond Foundry, a well-funded diamond grower that in addition to Leonardo DiCaprio has both moneyed tech guys and some well-known diamond guys on board; on top of the announcement that the lab-grown diamond sector is coalescing enough to start its own association; on top of the mined diamond industry scrambling to rebuild declining consumer demand and keep the “diamond dream” alive.
What last week’s news triumvirate suggests to me is that we’re on the cusp of the moment when synthetic diamond production will be commercially viable in large enough quantities, fine enough qualities, and big enough sizes that the price can come down sufficiently low enough to undercut mined diamonds by 50% or more. That hasn’t happened yet, but my gut tells me it’s not far off. Moore’s Law (that computer processing power doubles every 18 months) will have a corollary in synthetic diamonds, or I miss my guess.
Many in the industry believe consumers won’t want a manmade diamond to mark a special occasion, but let’s remember the [mined] Diamond Producers Association was founded last year with the goal of working to ensure that consumers will still want any diamond to mark a special occasion. We’re already competing for a customer that would rather spend on experiences than “stuff,” in an economy that’s been really tough on Millennials, today's target bridal customer and tomorrow's luxury customer.
Let’s also address consumer perception. This video featuring Anna-Mieke Anderson, CEO of Mia Donna, a jewelry company specializing in manmade diamond pieces, is rife with inaccuracies. But to the consumer, she’s as representative of the jewelry industry as we are—and she tells her story a whole lot better than we tell ours. There's a reason for the saying, "perception is reality."
Who are consumers going to believe? An attractive jewelry designer with a social conscience who says the only way to avoid getting a conflict diamond is to buy one that’s made in a lab, or our defensive lectures about how the Kimberley Process keeps conflict stones out of the pipeline, how they were only at worst a minuscule percentage of mined diamonds, yada, yada?
Anderson also presents manmade diamonds as the eco-friendly option to big nasty diamond mines tearing up the environment. Who are consumers—with visions of open-pit mines in their heads—going to believe? Her snappy sound bite, or our laborious explanation that manmade diamonds are not carbon neutral either? It takes a tremendous amount of energy to replicate conditions in the earth; energy that, unless the growers are powered by wind or solar, comes from burning fossil fuels obtained by extractive mining or drilling--just like diamonds. But Anderson got onstage first, and even wrong, tells her story convincingly well, which means we end up on the defensive again.
Anderson also has a strong charitable focus to her business, providing sponsorships for children in diamond-mining areas through the purchase of her jewelry. What more powerful incentive to resonate with Millennial consumers with a social conscience? The jewelry industry is incredibly generous through Jewelers For Children, but few outside the industry know of its accomplishments. The industry has been slower to embrace the Diamond Empowerment Fund, which in addition to benefiting people in diamond-producing communities like Anderson does, has a consumer-facing presence that tells the story of the good that diamonds do.
In my mind, this all adds up to the butler’s gong warning us that it’s time to shift focus from competing with synthetic diamonds—or hoping they’ll just go away—to figuring out how to profit from them. The gong is a call to prepare for dinner, not death. As a 30-year observer of this industry, I do think it’s entirely possible for most luxury jewelers to embrace these stones and present them as a separate category in the same store with natural stones. It’s all in the merchandising: great design and a nicely made piece displayed in an upscale environment has high desirability. (Think Crate & Barrel, Everlane, etc.). An entry-priced luxury that gets more people into your door can’t be a bad thing! From there, you have a customer that you can win over with your service and local ties, and as their wealth grows you can move them up into more valuable rare mined pieces.
Millennials who didn’t grow up hearing a diamond is forever have less incentive to say no to lab-grown stones. Since we want and need these customers, if they want more options, let’s give them options instead of telling them they can’t buy it here. An industry that embraces change and makes it work is going to be stronger and much more able to capture an increasing share of wallet. I’m not the only one who thinks this way; as I was writing this editorial, my inbox pinged again with this essay from marketing expert Ellen Fruchtman. She sees a worrisome disconnect between industry and consumers.
As Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham and Carson the butler both grudgingly learned, change is going to come regardless of whether we want it to or not. Let’s make it part of the story we tell, rather than risk going the way of Edwardian manners.
Top image: Some of the Downton Abbey cast at Highclere Castle in England, where the show is filmed. Nick Briggs/Carnival Film & Television Limited 2015 for Masterpiece