Vrai is the clearest example in this timeline of a brand that became lab-grown rather than starting that way. The dates are unusually well documented because the story was told in the business press as it happened, and because the acquirer, Diamond Foundry, was already a press favourite.
2014: a mined-diamond start
Vrai & Oro was founded in April 2014 in Los Angeles by Vanessa Stofenmacher and Chelsea Nicholson with US$8,000 of seed money. The proposition was direct-to-consumer minimalist fine jewellery with full supply-chain transparency, at prices that undercut the department-store mark-up. The diamonds were small, pavé-scale, and mined. By 2016 revenue had reached about US$3 million 1.
It was not a bridal company and not a lab-grown company. That is the baseline against which the switch has to be dated.
November 2016: Diamond Foundry acquires the brand
Stofenmacher had been looking for an ethical diamond supply and met Diamond Foundry's chief executive, Martin Roscheisen, who proposed that the companies "join forces". Diamond Foundry acquired Vrai & Oro in November 2016, two days before Thanksgiving; Stofenmacher stayed as president and became creative director of Diamond Foundry as well 1 4. National Jeweler gives the same month 2.
Diamond Foundry had launched publicly only a year earlier, in November 2015, with Leonardo DiCaprio among its backers 5. Buying a consumer brand gave it a direct channel to customers that its designer capsules could not.
February 2017: VOW, the first lab-grown-only line
The first product to ship under the new ownership was bridal. VOW (Vrai & Oro Weddings) launched in February 2017 with engagement rings, wedding bands and promise rings, featuring lab-grown diamonds exclusively, and a "mock box" of try-at-home samples aimed at women buying for themselves 1. Forbes, writing in March 2017, framed Stofenmacher's bet as "the fate of engagement rings rests in lab-grown diamonds". At this point the existing everyday range still carried the original mined stones.
August 2017: the whole range is lab-grown
By the week of 15 August 2017, when Vrai & Oro opened its first physical store, a 680-square-foot space at ROW DTLA in downtown Los Angeles, the brand offered three collections, Essentials, Vow and Black, all set with Diamond Foundry lab-grown diamonds grown in San Francisco, cut and polished on site and graded by the GIA 2. The Hollywood Reporter's coverage of the opening described the brand as offering lab-grown diamonds backed by DiCaprio 3. The Black collection, launched in July 2017, was the first 18k gold line with larger stones, priced from US$2,080 to US$8,460 2.
So the honest dating of "all diamonds lab-grown" is between February and August 2017, with August 2017 the first date this record can source for the complete range.
What the conversion was, and was not
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| April 2014 | Vrai & Oro founded; mined pavé diamonds | 1 |
| 11 Nov 2015 | Diamond Foundry launches publicly | 5 |
| Nov 2016 | Diamond Foundry acquires Vrai & Oro | 1 2 |
| Feb 2017 | VOW bridal launches, lab-grown only | 1 |
| Jul 2017 | Black Label 18k collection | 2 |
| Aug 2017 | First store opens; all three collections lab-grown | 2 3 |
Three points follow for anyone weighing "first" claims.
Vrai was lab-grown-exclusive before any 2018 luxury launch. Courbet, Lark & Berry and Lightbox all came a year later. Anyone claiming to be the "first exclusively lab-grown fine jewellery brand" has to get past Vrai's 2017 conversion and Ada Diamonds' 2015 founding, which is why this record does not use that phrase.
It was a conversion by acquisition. The brand existed for two and a half years on mined diamonds; the switch happened because a grower bought it and replaced the supply. That is a legitimate route to lab-grown, but it is not the same as founding a brand on the stone.
Its positioning in 2017 was minimalist and bridal-led. The February launch was engagement rings; the store's stated purpose was in-person appointments "for larger purchases, such as engagement rings" 2. The move towards luxury and design positioning came later; Forbes was still describing Diamond Foundry's plan to use Vrai to make lab-grown "true luxury" in June 2023 6.
For the brands founded on lab-grown the following year, and how each positioned itself, see 2018: the year lab-grown went luxury. For the category-by-category answer to who was first, see the master page.