Carbon Copy? Pandora Takes a Shine to Lab-Made Diamonds

Lab-grown diamonds such as these from the French company, Diam-Concept are growing in popularity. (Getty Images)
Lab-grown diamonds such as these from the French company, Diam-Concept are growing in popularity. (Getty Images)
TT
20

Carbon Copy? Pandora Takes a Shine to Lab-Made Diamonds

Lab-grown diamonds such as these from the French company, Diam-Concept are growing in popularity. (Getty Images)
Lab-grown diamonds such as these from the French company, Diam-Concept are growing in popularity. (Getty Images)

Pandora, the jewelry maker best known for its silver charm bracelets, will stop selling mined diamonds and focus on more affordable, sustainable, lab-grown gems, it said on Tuesday.

"Diamonds are not only forever, but for everyone," Pandora Chief Executive Alexander Lacik said as the Danish company launched a new collection of man-made stones.

Pandora, which made 85 million pieces of jewelry last year and sold 50,000 diamonds, said it aimed to "transform the market for diamond jewelry with affordable, sustainably created products".

The growing acceptance of man-made diamonds by millennials attracted to cheaper stones guaranteed not to have come from conflict zones has spurred firms such as De Beers to end its decades-old policy of shunning synthetic gems in its jewelry.

Prices of lab-grown diamonds have fallen over the past two years following the U-turn by De Beers in 2018 and are now up to 10 times cheaper than mined diamonds, according to a report by Bain & Company.

Pandora's new collection of lab-grown diamonds will be launched initially in the United Kingdom and will be available in other key markets next year, it said.

Pandora said it expected the diamond market to continue to grow, with sales of lab-grown diamonds outpacing overall growth.

Pandora's lab-grown gems will be made using a technology in which a hydrocarbon gas mixture is heated to 800 Celsius (1,472 Fahrenheit), spurring carbon atoms to be deposited on a small seed diamond, growing into a crystal layer by layer.

Pandora, which has until now sourced mined diamonds from KGK Diamonds, said it will get its lab-grown stones from suppliers in Europe and North America. Mined diamonds already in Pandora stores would still be sold, it said.

Opponents of mined diamonds say their extraction causes environmental damage and so-called blood diamonds help fund conflicts. A study commissioned by the natural diamond industry in 2019 said mined diamonds were less carbon-intensive.



The $10 Mn bag: Original Birkin Smashes Records at Paris Auction

The "Birkin" bag and its owner. ALAIN JOCARD, Gilles LEIMDORFER / AFP
The "Birkin" bag and its owner. ALAIN JOCARD, Gilles LEIMDORFER / AFP
TT
20

The $10 Mn bag: Original Birkin Smashes Records at Paris Auction

The "Birkin" bag and its owner. ALAIN JOCARD, Gilles LEIMDORFER / AFP
The "Birkin" bag and its owner. ALAIN JOCARD, Gilles LEIMDORFER / AFP

The first-ever Birkin bag designed by French luxury brand Hermes for celebrity Jane Birkin sold for 8.58 million euros ($10 million) at a Sotheby's auction in Paris on Thursday, smashing previous price records for a handbag.

The modern design classic, owned by a Paris-based handbag collector, sparked a telephone bidding war up to seven million euros, with the final sale price set at 8.58 million with commission and fees, the Sotheby's website showed.

"After weeks of anticipation, the bidding opened at 1 million euros — prompting a gasp from the room," Sotheby's said in a statement.

The final buyer, who eclipsed eight other rivals, was a "private collector from Japan", the auction house added, without giving further details.

The previous record price for a handbag at auction was set by a diamond-encrusted crocodile skin Hermes Kelly 28, which fetched $513,000 in 2021 at Christie's in Hong Kong, AFP said.

Sotheby's had advised that the Birkin prototype was expected to beat that level during its sale.

But the staggering price tag for a well-worn item is in keeping with the fashion world's recent flashy aesthetics.

After years of so-called "quiet luxury" dominating catwalks, designers have embraced more ostentatious looks in recent seasons that have been dubbed "boom boom" by some trend forecasters.

Modern-day Birkin bags are offered by Hermes to loyal clients, with prices starting at around $10,000.

'Nostalgic'

The original Birkin has changed hands twice since being put up for sale by Birkin at an auction in 1994 where the proceeds went to an AIDS charity, according to Sotheby's.

Thursday's sale represents an extraordinary pay day for owner Catherine Benier, who has a boutique in the upmarket 6th district in Left Bank Paris.

She said she was "astonished at the result" in a statement sent by Sotheby's.

"I’m already very nostalgic at the thought of knowing the bag is no longer mine but extremely happy it has found a new loving home," she added.

She told The New York Times before the sale that the bag, which she bought at auction 25 years ago, was the "jewel in my collection".

The bag is now the second-most expensive fashion item ever sold at auction, Sotheby's said.

The record was established by a pair of ruby red slippers worn by actor Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz in 1939, which sold for $32.5 million in 2024 in Dallas, Texas.

'Many years of use'

The birth of the Birkin bag has become a modern fashion legend.

During a Paris-London flight, the singer and film star -- who died in 2023 -- complained to fellow traveler Jean-Louis Dumas, then head of Hermes, about not being able to find a bag suited to her needs as a young mother.

The result of their conversation was a spacious tote with room for baby bottles, created in 1984 and named the Birkin.

The protoype, which Birkin regularly carried with her and customized with stickers, is engraved with the initials J.B. and has several unique features, including closed metal rings, a non-detachable shoulder strap and a built-in nail clipper.

Its condition "reflects the many years of use by the actress and singer", Sotheby's said beforehand.

A slightly differently sized version of the original has become the flagship product of the immensely profitable family-owned Hermes ever since.

Produced in very limited numbers, the bag has maintained an aura of exclusivity and is beloved by celebrities from the Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez to Victoria Beckham.

Frustrated fashionistas in America even sued Hermes in a class-action suit in California last year after they were refused access to the bags.

The former wife of French singing legend Serge Gainsbourg championed a host of causes, including animal rights.