New London Jewelry Brand Disrupting Diamond Industry With Luxurious Lab-Created Stones

LONDON, June 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On a star-studded evening at the recent Cannes Film Festival, London's Lark & Berry debuted lines of jewelry featuring their glistening cultured diamonds.

Victoria's Secret model Martha Hunt, model Bambi Northwood-Blyth and socialites Lady Victoria, Sandra Hagelstam, Katherine Ormerod, Kate Tik and Nina Suess strutted their stuff aboard a super-yacht hosted by Lark & Berry in Cannes. The evening was a smashing success, creating much anticipation for the opening of Lark & Berry's flagship boutique store in London this summer.    

Lark & Berry's precious metal collections set with cultured diamonds - perhaps better known as laboratory-grown diamonds - are delicate yet bold, classic and playful. Lark & Berry's artfully crafted pieces combine the shimmering brilliance of diamonds with covetable design. Design is at the core of the brand along with sustainability and exceptional quality a given. Prices range from $200 for the demi-fine 14K gold collections and $3,000 to $100,000 for fine jewelry and wedding collections in 18K gold and platinum.

Founder Laura Chavez had long dreamed of starting her own high-quality jewelry brand, yet the long-standing traditions of controversial, environmentally disturbing diamond-mining held her back. Through her research, Chavez discovered a burgeoning innovative industry: using technology to create diamonds, but without endangering lives or perpetuating political turmoil.  

Disrupting the outdated and sometimes cruel practices of diamond-miners became Chavez's goal in establishing the Lark & Berry brand. She teamed with renowned British-based designer Katie Rowland and together, the two took the journey into revolutionizing this industry.

The move to lab-grown taken by young, forward-thinking jewelry brands like Lark & Berry has made the outdated brands of old fearful. Just one month after Lark & Berry's launch, De Beers announced they would enter the same diamond market.   

"Companies are entering the lab-grown market because they know they're behind the times. In the age of information, controversial practices like monopolizing this industry by creating price walls so that an established brand can keep control of the market are no longer things companies will get away with. Customers now realize a diamond is a diamond no matter where it comes from. But a lab-created diamond is 100 percent traceable and more ecologically friendly than a mined one. The nice thing about a big name entering into the lab-grown market is it signals you are on the right track," says Laura.

Made in a laboratory-controlled environment which mimics the process of diamond formation deep in the Earth's mantle, Lark & Berry's cultured diamonds sit within the purest category of diamonds on the market, with only two percent of their mined counterparts having the same superior quality. The process leads to less waste, less water loss and less impact on the environment. The stones are also conflict-free since no mining and associated exploitation of local communities takes place.

"When we discovered the technology to culture diamonds, we were blown away!" exclaims designer Katie Rowland. "There's no dirt on our diamonds, just high design and covetable style."

The future is bright and shimmering for Lark & Berry. The brand has received amazing response so far and has aims to continue disrupting the luxury jewelry industry, just as revolutionaries like Stella McCartney did utilizing eco-friendly faux-leather in her luxury products.

"What's amazing is that lab-grown diamonds are chemically, physically and optically the same as their mined counterparts. And they're more affordable! The most experienced jewelers can't tell lab-grown from mined diamonds — not even gemologists can. They're not faux. They're just man-made. This allows our jewels to be as elegant as Chopard but at a price people can afford. These are core values at Lark & Berry," adds Laura.

Lark & Berry believe in wearing diamonds every day with a "why not?" attitude. From preciously tiny, glittering diamond stars to abstract-set sapphires and kaleidoscopic drops of ruby and emerald, Lark & Berry pieces are big on impact, low on effort. Luxury, but also conversational, modern and offbeat. These concepts are at the heart of Lark & Berry's design aesthetic.

About the founder: Laura Chavez has undergraduate degrees in economics and managerial studies from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and an MBA from London Business School.

About the creative director: Katie Rowland has a degree in graphic design from Kingston University in London (Hons.). She went on to study jewelry design at Central St. Martin's.

CONTACT: [email protected]

Related Images

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Veto Ring
One of the most popular pieces at Lark & Berry - part of the Veto collection made with lab-created diamonds and white sapphires set in 14K gold.

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Martha Hunt at Launch Party
Victoria's Secret model Martha Hunt wearing Lark & Berry Dune Colored Sapphires collection to the launch party

wave-ring.jpg
Wave Ring
Ring with lab-created diamonds set in 18K gold

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Flora Earrings
Lab-grown diamonds set in 18K gold with removable sapphire drop

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SOURCE Lark & Berry