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Florida Diamonds
Carat Factory
A Sarasota company can manufacture diamonds as real as those that come out of the ground. Selling them, however, is a multifaceted problem.
Lux says it would pose a “tremendous threat to our business” if unscrupulous individuals tried to pass off Gemesis’ stones as natural diamonds. “We will go to great lengths to make sure that there is no fraud perpetuated by someone who could take our diamonds and try to pass them off as mined because they do sell at a price that’s less than the price of a mined diamond.”
The labeling efforts also have helped Gemesis gain more acceptance in the marketplace. In January, the Gemological Institute of America began grading “laboratory grown” diamonds — with some caveats. The GIA, for the moment, classifies the stones as synthetics and issues grading reports less specific than its reports for natural diamonds. “They’re very, very similar chemically,” says Laura Simanton, a senior public relations manager with the GIA. “Both consist of carbon atoms in a cubic bond, but there are differences so that a trained jeweler, especially our guys, can tell the difference. A normal, everyday person would not be able to.”
James Shigley, GIA’s former director of research and now distinguished research fellow, credits Gemesis as being “quite responsible in helping the jewelry trade to understand this new technology and feel comfortable with this product.” He believes Gemesis’ biggest challenge is not its natural diamond competitors in as much as it is the public. “I think their production is small compared to natural diamond production, but I think they also have the challenge of just educating people about what their product is. It is a diamond. It’s not an imitation material like cubic zirconia.”
To that end, Gemesis is pursuing an aggressive marketing push that has included hiring former De Beers’ executive Joan Parker as its “ambassador” and signing golf phenom Morgan Pressel to a multiyear endorsement contract. The teen golfer — the youngest winner of a major LPGA golf tournament — now hits the links wearing a pair of Gemesis cultured diamond earrings and a necklace.
The company currently has fewer than 10 customers, jewelry manufacturers who take the diamonds, cut and polish them and laser inscribe them to note that they’re lab grown. The company won’t talk about revenue. “We’ve been through a few rounds of fund raising,” says Lux, who joined the company last October. “We’re getting very close to basically funding our own way through operations. We are spending money beyond that because of continuing the investment. We expect to continue this investment beyond this building when it’s full.”
