5 facts about lab-created gems

At Wanderlust Life, we’re excited to use lab-created diamonds and opals. What’s behind our decision to incorporate these gems into our work? Here are five facts that led us to the lab-created route.

Diamonds, opals and other gems produced in a lab are every bit as real as those that have been spontaneously created beneath the Earth’s surface. Optically, natural and lab-created gems are identical.

Lab-created gemstones have the exact same chemical compositions, crystal structures and physical properties of their natural counterparts.

Mining gems using traditional methods disturbs the Earth’s surface through explosives and machinery, uses water and creates waste. Producing gemstones sustainably in a lab avoids these detrimental effects on the environment.

Shifting soil and rock to find natural gemstones is very hard work that comes with a certain amount of danger. By growing gemstones in the controlled environment of a laboratory, any cost to human health is vastly reduced.

A lab-created gemstone is one that’s been made in a laboratory and has the same chemical composition as its natural counterpart. You might also see them referred to as “synthetic”, “man-made”, “lab-grown”, “cultured” or “engineered” gems.