Affordable, lab-produced diamonds available in city

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A Singapore-based jeweler, Gordon Max, has opened a store in South Jakarta that offers jewelry adorned with lab-grown diamonds at much more affordable prices than hitherto.

Besides a wide range of jewelry like rings, pendants and earrings, the store also sells loose diamonds.

"We obtain them from a firm in Europe," store owner Lilian Khaw said, declining to specify the location or name of the firm.

Gordon Max sells a 0.05 carat loose white diamond (its color known as DE) that is almost flawless (with a very slight inclusion, or VVS1), for Rp 395,000 (US$44).

"The most expensive loose diamond here is this five carat diamond -- DE color, VVS1 quality," she added, showing a cushion- cut rock.

The cushion-cut diamond costs Rp 8.9 million, partly because of the sophisticated cut, which gives the gem 100 facets.

Most common, cut diamonds have 57 or 58 facets, Lilian said.

Meanwhile, the price of a gold wedding ring adorned with a diamond starts at Rp 1.5 million.

Lilian said that her customers at first did not believe that Gordon Max diamonds had the same character as natural diamonds.

"Not until they compared lab-grown with natural gems and saw them with their own eyes did they believe that lab-grown diamonds were as beautiful as natural ones," she said.

Due to the controlled environment, lab-grown gems are often more beautiful.

Some Gordon Max customers were wealthy individuals who could easily afford to buy pricey natural diamonds, Lilian added.

"For safety reasons, though, they feel more comfortable wearing lab-grown ones. On top of that, they usually keep their real diamonds in the bank, so it is a hassle to take them out and return them to the bank every time they attend a reception," she said.

Lilian said that many customers preferred to be visited than go to the store themselves.

"They don't want people to know they have bought lab-grown diamonds. One customer didn't even want me to see her in person, so she asked some of her relatives to meet me when I visited her home," she added.

Lilian said that the same thing occurred with pearls. Initially, the market belittled cultivated pearls until Princess Mikimoto wore a tiara adorned with them, she said.

Obviously, it may take some time before the market accepts lab-grown diamonds for their beauty and for the brilliance of the invention, instead of for their value alone.

Gordon Max
Dharmawangsa Square
City Walk, Unit 48, 2nd floor
Jl Dharamwangsa VI
Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta 12160
tel. 7278 7380, fax. 7280 1382
e-mail: gordonmax@cbn.net.id
website: http://www.gordonmax.com