“This one is a conversation starter,” says Vinaya Gupta. Pushing her wavy burgundy hair back, she reveals a delicate pair of earrings. A cluster of small, brilliant-cut diamonds is set in a pattern that looks like a mini constellation. “They are gem quality, but lab-grown, planet positive and purse accessible,” says the 27-year-old entrepreneur shopping at Avira Diamonds, a swanky store that displays jewellery made of lab-grown diamonds (LGDs) in Chennai.
Like Vinaya, many millennials see LGDs not as a substitute, but as a practical alternative. Even celebrities such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Emma Watson, Penelope Cruz and Deepika Padukone, Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and conservationist Bindi Irwin have supported this democratic detour of the diamond business.
