For diamond shoppers, yet another choice to make – natural or man-made?

With Thanksgiving marking the unofficial start of engagement season - late November through Valentine's Day is when marriage proposals are common - ring buying is top of mind for many couples considering marriage.

The four Cs - carat, cut, colour and clarity - have traditionally been used to evaluate diamonds. Now, couples buying diamond engagement rings have another choice to make: natural diamonds, which are mined from the earth, or lab-grown diamonds, which are man-made but chemically identical.

The once straightforward process of picking a stone is now fraught with confusion. Along with their style preferences, couples are now considering the ethics and sustainability of each type of diamond.

"I was surprised by how much uncertainty and how much of an opinion existed on both sides of the fence," Mr Chris Lawlor, 35, of New York, said about his experience designing an engagement ring for his fiancée in 2021. "People didn't seem to be on the same page."

Mr Lawlor, a founder of Black Creek Digital, a New York-based artificial intelligence computing company, had looked at both natural diamonds and those created in factories using machines that mimic the pressure needed to produce natural stones.

He found the lab-grown stones attractive, but was also drawn to the rarity of natural stones and their long history as the traditional engagement ring stone.

After discussing both types of stones with a jeweller, he designed a ring with a brilliant-cut, natural diamond. "It came down to the simple fact that engagement rings are a fully emotional purchase," he said. "You want to make sure that it is special."