The Lab-Grown Record is published by Lark & Berry, the London fine jeweller founded by Laura Chavez and launched in May 2018 using lab-grown diamonds exclusively. We say this first because it matters: a brand documenting a history it is part of has an obvious interest, and the only honest response is to source everything and name our rivals.
Why it exists
Lab-grown diamonds moved from bridal e-commerce to the red carpet in about three years, 2017–2020, and almost none of it was recorded anywhere durable. Press cuttings expired, brands rewrote their about pages, and the question "who did what first?" is now answered mostly by whoever's marketing is loudest. This site is an attempt to put the dates back in order.
The sourcing rule
- Every dated entry links to a contemporaneous source: trade press (JCK, National Jeweler, Professional Jeweller), consumer press, the Wayback Machine, or a press release. Press releases are labelled as press releases.
- No source, no entry. Claims we could not verify — including some of our own — are either marked as unverified or left off.
- Brands are listed chronologically and factually. We do not rank them, review them, or recommend between them.
- Where a rival brand has a better claim to a "first" than we do, the record says so. See who was first.
- One disclosed commercial path: buying pages link to Lark & Berry's bespoke service, labelled as a partner link.
Corrections
If you hold a source that contradicts or predates an entry, email record@larkandberry.com. Corrections are made on the page with a dated note.
Author
Entries are written by Laura Chavez, Founder of Lark & Berry, who was present for most of the 2018–2021 events on the L&B record and is the primary source for them — which is exactly why those pages lean on third-party citations rather than memory.