ELMONAS / EDUCATION
What is a lab-grown diamond?
The short answer
A lab-grown diamond is a real diamond that was grown in a laboratory rather than forming underground.
What is a lab-grown diamond?
A lab-grown diamond is a real diamond that was grown in a laboratory rather than forming underground. It has the same crystal structure of tightly bonded carbon atoms, and essentially the same chemical, optical and physical properties, as a mined diamond.
The only difference is origin. A mined diamond formed in the earth over millions to billions of years; a lab-grown diamond grew inside a controlled chamber. GIA notes that, by eye, the two can be indistinguishable, while a gemological laboratory can separate them with advanced instrumentation.
How is a lab-grown diamond made?
A lab-grown diamond grows from a small diamond seed using one of two methods, HPHT or CVD. HPHT reproduces the high pressure and high temperature of natural growth; CVD builds the crystal layer by layer from a carbon-containing gas at near-vacuum pressure.
Both methods produce real diamond. The full comparison, with a diagram, is in CVD vs HPHT.
Is a lab-grown diamond the same as a simulant?
No. A simulant such as cubic zirconia or moissanite only looks like diamond and is a completely different material, while a lab-grown diamond is diamond.
GIA describes simulants as "completely unrelated to diamonds at the atomic level" and identifiable by their optical and physical characteristics. See the measured properties in Diamond vs moissanite vs cubic zirconia.
Can you tell a lab-grown diamond from a mined diamond?
Not by eye. Gemological laboratories identify origin from atomic-level growth features and spectroscopic testing that differ between laboratory and natural growth.
That identification is written on the grading report, and GIA laser-inscribes each lab-grown diamond's girdle with the report number and a statement that it is laboratory-grown. How to check this is in How to read and verify a report.
How should a lab-grown diamond be described?
The US Federal Trade Commission's Jewelry Guides say a seller of lab-grown diamonds should describe them with a qualifier such as "laboratory-grown" or "laboratory-created" immediately before the word "diamond", equally conspicuously, so the buyer knows it is not mined.
You will see "lab-grown diamond" used this way throughout this site.
Does a lab-grown diamond come with a grading report?
Yes. Independent laboratories such as IGI and GIA examine lab-grown diamonds and issue reports that identify the origin and describe the stone's quality.
Every stone on the Elmonas availability list has an IGI or GIA report, and the report number is shown with the stone. The two labs grade differently today; see Grading: IGI vs GIA.
Where can I see lab-grown diamonds?
Sources
- GIA 4Cs, Simulants, Moissanite and Lab-Grown Diamonds: https://4cs.gia.edu/en-us/simulants-moissanite-and-lab-grown-diamonds/
- Federal Trade Commission, In the Loupe: Advertising Diamonds, Gemstones and Pearls: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/loupe-advertising-diamond-gemstones-pearls
- IGI, Laboratory Grown Diamond Report: https://www.igi.org/reports/lab-grown-diamond-report/
Last reviewed: 18 October 2026
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