Exceptional Stones, Grown with Intention
Our preference has always been for natural gemstones — their rarity, their geological history, and their individual character are things that cannot be replicated. But we also understand that for some people, a laboratory-grown stone is the right choice. When that is the case, we bring the same rigour we apply to everything else: direct relationships with growers, honest disclosure, and an uncompromising standard of quality.
A lab-grown stone is not a lesser stone. It is a different stone — and choosing it well requires the same care as choosing any other.
Honest About What Lab-Grown Means
We will not pretend lab-grown stones are interchangeable with natural ones. They are different things, and the difference matters. But for the right person and the right piece, a laboratory-grown gemstone of genuine quality is a legitimate and beautiful choice.
Laboratory-grown gemstones are chemically, physically, and optically identical to their natural counterparts — the same crystal structure, the same hardness, the same optical properties. What they lack is geological history: the millions of years of heat and pressure that produce a natural sapphire or emerald, and the rarity and individual character that comes with it. That history has real value, and we never downplay it.
Our preference is always for natural stones. But preference is not the same as prescription — and we would rather help you choose a beautiful lab-grown stone than a natural one that doesn't suit your style or story.
What we will not do is stock low-quality lab-grown material simply because it is inexpensive. The market for laboratory-grown coloured stones is already full of material that is poorly grown, inconsistently cut, and sold with little information about how it was produced. Our standard for lab-grown stones is the same as our standard for everything else: we want to understand exactly where it came from, how it was grown, and whether the quality justifies being set into a piece that will be worn for a lifetime.
That means working directly with growers wherever possible — the same philosophy we apply to our natural stone suppliers. It means understanding the growing method, whether hydrothermal, flux, or Czochralski pulling, and being honest with you about what that means for the stone you are considering. And it means pricing lab-grown stones honestly: they should be significantly less expensive than fine naturals, and if they are not, you should ask why.
A Note on Value
Lab-grown coloured gemstones do not hold their value the way fine natural stones do, because they can be produced in volume and their supply is not constrained by geology. This is not a hidden flaw — it is simply the honest reality of what they are. If long-term investment value is important to you, a natural stone is the better choice. If you are looking for exceptional beauty at a more accessible price point, and you understand what you are buying, a lab-grown stone may suit you very well.
What We Require of Every Lab Stone
Transparency about how it was made
Different growing methods produce different optical characteristics. Hydrothermal sapphires more closely mimic natural growth conditions. Flux-grown stones can show distinctive inclusions. Verneuil (flame fusion) produces a less expensive stone with different internal characteristics. We disclose the growing method on every lab stone we sell, the same way we disclose treatment on every natural stone.
Direct sourcing, not bulk commodity
Just as we work directly with Australian sapphire miners rather than buying through anonymous commodity channels, we seek direct relationships with the growers who produce our lab stones. We want to know the facility, the growing conditions, and the quality controls applied. This is not always possible, but it is always the goal — and it distinguishes what we offer from standard wholesale lab material.
The same eye we apply to naturals
We assess lab-grown stones for the same qualities we look for in natural material: colour saturation and evenness, optical life, cut quality, and the absence of growth artefacts that diminish appearance. A lab-grown stone that is poorly coloured, lazily cut, or full of curved growth striae is not acceptable to us, regardless of its price point. Accessibility should not mean settling.
Lab-Created Stones We Work With
We offer a carefully selected range of laboratory-grown coloured stones — chosen for optical quality, growing method transparency, and colour that genuinely holds up alongside the naturals we have always worked with.
Lab-Created Sapphire
Blue · Teal · Pink · Yellow · White · Padparadscha-type
Lab-created sapphire is corundum — chemically and physically identical to the natural stone, at the same Mohs 9 hardness. We prefer hydrothermal growth for its closer resemblance to natural conditions, and we are honest about the difference between hydrothermal, flux, and Verneuil material when helping you choose. The colour range in lab sapphire is wide, including fine blues, teals, pinks, and near-colourless stones for those who want the hardness without strong colour.
View lab sapphiresLab-Created Ruby
Pinkish red · Vivid red · Deep red
Fine natural ruby is among the most expensive gemstones on earth — vivid, unheated Burmese material commands prices that are out of reach for most budgets. Lab-created ruby offers the same chromium-driven red colour and Mohs 9 hardness at a fraction of the cost. Flux-grown lab rubies can be visually compelling material. We are particular about avoiding Verneuil flame fusion ruby for fine jewellery, as the optical quality is noticeably inferior.
View lab rubiesLab-Created Emerald
Vivid green · Bluish green · Medium green
Lab-created emerald is one of the most compelling cases for laboratory growth. Natural emeralds are routinely oiled and filled to improve their appearance, and the inclusions that give them character can also compromise their stability. A well-grown lab emerald can offer cleaner colour and better clarity than many natural stones at its price point — though it lacks the geological personality that makes a fine natural emerald irreplaceable. We work primarily with hydrothermal lab emeralds, which have the most natural-looking inclusions and growth patterns.
View lab emeraldsLab-Created Alexandrite
Green to teal in daylight · Red to purple in incandescent
Natural alexandrite of strong colour change is extraordinarily rare and prohibitively expensive. It is one of the stone types where laboratory growth makes the most practical sense: lab-created alexandrite can produce a genuinely dramatic colour change — from green or teal in daylight to red or purple under incandescent light — at a price that allows it to be set into fine jewellery. We are careful to source lab alexandrite with strong, clean colour change rather than the weak, brownish shifts that characterise lower-quality material.
View lab alexandriteLab-Created Spinel
Vivid red · Cobalt blue · Pink · Grey · Black
Natural spinel has historically been one of the most undervalued fine gemstones — it shares ruby's colour range with better clarity, and some of the most famous historical rubies have turned out to be spinels. Lab-created spinel extends this further, offering vivid cobalt blues, intense reds, and saturated pinks that are difficult to find affordably in natural material. At Mohs 8, spinel is excellent for rings, and the lab-grown versions we work with are grown by flux method for optical quality.
View lab spinelPadparadscha-Type Sapphire
Salmon · Pinkish orange · Peach
Padparadscha sapphire — the rarest and most prized of all sapphire colours, named for the Sanskrit word for lotus blossom — describes a precise range of pinkish-orange to orangey-pink that is extraordinarily difficult to find in natural material at any quality level. Lab-created padparadscha-type corundum can achieve the characteristic warm salmon and peach tones with Mohs 9 durability, making it one of the most compelling lab stone choices for someone drawn to unusual colour.
View padparadscha-typeParaiba-Type Tourmaline
Electric teal · Neon blue · Vivid green-blue
Natural Paraiba tourmaline from Brazil is among the most valuable gemstones per carat in the world — its neon copper-bearing teal is unlike any other colour in the gem kingdom. Lab-created copper-bearing tourmaline can replicate that extraordinary neon quality at a price that makes it accessible, and the colour is genuinely arresting. We are transparent that lab Paraiba-type material is not natural Paraiba — it is grown material with similar copper colouration — and we price and describe it accordingly.
View Paraiba-typeLab-Created Morganite
Blush · Peach · Deeper rose-pink
Natural morganite is already relatively affordable in larger sizes, so the case for lab-grown morganite is less driven by price than by the ability to achieve deeper, more saturated pink-peach tones that are difficult to find consistently in natural material. Stronger colour saturation is often the most compelling reason to consider lab morganite — natural stones tend toward soft, pale tones, while lab growth can produce a richer rose that holds its presence in a ring.
View lab morganiteHow Laboratory Gemstones Are Grown
Growing method matters more than most people realise. It affects the optical character of the stone, the inclusions it contains, the price you pay, and what you can honestly say about what you are wearing.
Hydrothermal Growth
The method closest to nature
Hydrothermal growth replicates the natural geological process: a seed crystal is placed in a pressurised chamber with superheated water and nutrient solution, and the crystal grows slowly over weeks or months. The process produces stones with growth characteristics that closely resemble natural material — including distinctive but minimal inclusions — and optical properties that are difficult to distinguish from the natural stone without specialist equipment. Hydrothermal growth is used for high-quality sapphire, emerald, and alexandrite, and it is the method we prefer where it is available.
Flux Growth
Slower growth, distinctive character
Flux growth dissolves the raw mineral in a molten flux solution — typically a lead-based or other salt compound — and allows crystals to grow slowly as the solution cools. The process is slower and more expensive than Verneuil growth, and produces stones with finer optical quality and more natural-looking inclusions. Flux-grown ruby and spinel can be genuinely beautiful material. The flux inclusions themselves — wispy, veil-like formations — are a characteristic that distinguishes flux material from both natural and Verneuil stones.
Verneuil (Flame Fusion)
The original method — high volume, lower quality
Verneuil or flame fusion is the oldest and least expensive laboratory growth method, invented in the 1890s. Powdered raw material is melted and dropped onto a rotating seed, building a boule of crystal over hours rather than weeks. The result is chemically correct but optically distinguishable — curved striae (growth lines) are visible under magnification, and the stones tend to have a slightly different optical quality than natural or hydrothermally grown material. Verneuil stones are extremely common in low-cost jewellery. We do not use them in fine work.
Chemical Vapour Deposition
CVD — primarily used for diamond
Chemical vapour deposition is the dominant method for growing laboratory diamonds but is less commonly used for coloured stones. In CVD growth, carbon-rich gases are ionised in a chamber and carbon atoms are deposited layer by layer onto a substrate. It is a different process from coloured stone growth and is mentioned here for completeness. If you are considering a lab-grown diamond rather than a coloured stone, please speak to us separately about the diamond options we can access.
Identical Properties
What lab-grown and natural share exactly
Regardless of growing method, laboratory-grown gemstones share the same chemical formula, crystal structure, refractive index, hardness, and density as their natural counterparts. A lab sapphire is corundum — Al2O3 — and it will scratch glass exactly as a natural sapphire does. It will behave identically in a setting, respond identically to cleaning, and look to the unaided eye exactly as a natural stone does. The differences between lab and natural are geological history, rarity, value, and the internal fingerprint visible under gemological examination — not physical properties.
Working Directly with Growers
Responsible sourcing does not stop at the mine. The principles we apply to our natural stone supply chain — transparency, direct relationships, honest disclosure — extend without exception to our laboratory-grown material.
The same standard, a different origin
The laboratory gemstone market has its own opacity problem. Much of what is sold as lab-grown coloured stones moves through the same anonymous wholesale channels as natural material — loose stones with no documentation of their growing facility, method, or quality controls. We find this as unsatisfactory as buying natural stones with no provenance information, and we approach it the same way: by working with suppliers who can tell us exactly where the stone was grown, how, and by whom.
Growing Method
Disclosed on every stone we sell
Grower Relationships
Direct where possible, always assessed
Energy and Facility
We ask questions about how labs are powered
No Commodity Material
We do not buy anonymous bulk lab stock
A lab-grown stone grown in a facility powered by renewable energy, by a grower we can name, is a more honest product than one bought from an unnamed intermediary at the lowest available price. Origin still matters — even when the origin is a laboratory.
Natural and Lab-Grown — an Honest Comparison
Neither natural nor lab-grown is the right choice for everyone. Understanding what each genuinely offers — and gives up — is the only honest way to decide.
What is identical, what is not
Natural
Same hardness, same crystal structure, same refractive index, same density. A natural sapphire is chemically Al2O3 and so is a lab-grown one. The physical performance in a ring is identical. Treatments applied post-growth (heat, fracture filling) are the same disclosure obligations.
Lab-Grown
Identical chemical, physical, and optical properties to natural material of the same species. Durability is the same. The differences are geological — origin, formation history, internal fingerprint — not performance. A lab sapphire will not wear faster, scratch more easily, or fade more quickly than a natural one.
Where the real difference lives
Natural
Natural stones are individual in a way that cannot be replicated. Two natural sapphires from the same mine will not look identical. The inclusions, colour zoning, and growth history of a natural stone are its fingerprint — irreplaceable, unrepeatable, and part of what makes fine gemstones compelling objects to collect and inherit.
Lab-Grown
Lab-grown stones can be produced with consistent colour and clarity that would be difficult to find at that level in natural material. This consistency is a genuine advantage for matching pairs or suites. What is absent is the geological individuality — a lab stone of the same species will not have the fingerprint of a natural one, and it can in principle be reproduced.
What each is worth, and why
Natural
Fine natural gemstones have held and appreciated in value over time because their supply is finite and constrained by geology. A fine unheated Kashmir sapphire or an exceptional Burmese ruby commands prices that reflect genuine rarity. Natural stones of high quality are legitimate long-term assets in a way that lab stones are not.
Lab-Grown
Lab-grown coloured stones should be priced significantly below their natural equivalents — roughly 50 to 80 per cent less for comparable colour and quality, depending on the species. They do not hold value in the same way because their supply is not geologically constrained. We price them honestly and we will tell you plainly if a lab stone is overpriced for what it is.
Neither story is entirely simple
Natural
Natural gemstone mining has well-documented environmental and social impacts — land disturbance, water use, and supply chain labour conditions that vary enormously by source. Responsibly sourced natural stones from traceable origins represent a genuine effort to improve these outcomes, and Australian stones sourced directly carry an especially short and visible supply chain.
Lab-Grown
Laboratory growth avoids direct mining impact but is energy-intensive — the hydrothermal and flux processes require significant heat and pressure. The environmental calculus depends heavily on the energy source of the growing facility. Labs powered by renewables have a meaningfully different footprint from those running on coal. This is one reason we ask about grower energy sources when we establish supplier relationships.
Our Recommendation
If you are drawn to natural stones and value geological individuality and long-term value, we will always encourage that direction — it is ours too. If you want exceptional colour, are working within a tighter budget, or have considered the question carefully and prefer a lab-grown stone, we will help you choose the best one available with the same care we bring to everything else. What we will not do is steer you based on margin rather than your interests.
Questions We Get Asked
Lab-grown gemstones attract a lot of questions — some of them loaded. We try to answer all of them the same way: honestly and without an agenda.
Are lab-grown gemstones real?
Yes. Laboratory-grown gemstones are chemically, physically, and optically identical to natural gemstones of the same species. A lab-grown sapphire is corundum — the same mineral as a natural sapphire — with the same hardness, the same crystal structure, and the same optical properties. The word real is sometimes used to imply natural, but a lab-grown stone is not fake, simulated, or synthetic in the costume jewellery sense. It is a genuine gemstone grown in controlled conditions rather than geological ones.
Will a lab-grown stone look different from a natural one?
To the unaided eye, a well-grown lab stone and a natural stone of equivalent quality will look identical. The differences that exist are visible only under gemological examination: curved growth striae in Verneuil stones, characteristic flux inclusions, or hydrothermal growth tubes. A good gemologist can usually identify a lab stone under magnification, but the person wearing it — and everyone who admires it — will not be able to see any difference in normal viewing conditions.
Are lab-grown coloured stones the same as lab-grown diamonds?
They are similar in concept but different in chemistry and growing method. Lab-grown diamonds are carbon, grown by HPHT or CVD processes. Lab-grown coloured stones — sapphire, ruby, emerald, spinel, alexandrite — are grown by hydrothermal, flux, or Verneuil methods, depending on the mineral species. The economics are also different: the lab diamond market is large and highly commercialised; the lab coloured stone market is smaller and more varied in quality.
Why does growing method matter?
Growing method directly affects optical quality, internal characteristics, and price. Hydrothermal growth is the slowest and most expensive method, producing stones closest in appearance to natural material. Flux growth is also high quality with distinctive inclusions. Verneuil flame fusion is fast, cheap, and produces stones that are chemically correct but visually inferior — curved growth lines under magnification, and a slightly different optical quality. We do not use Verneuil material in fine jewellery, and we disclose the growing method on every lab stone we sell.
Is lab-grown more ethical than natural?
The ethical picture is more complicated than a simple yes. Lab-grown avoids the direct mining impacts of natural stone extraction — land disturbance, water use, and the social risks that attend artisanal mining in some regions. But laboratory growth is energy-intensive, and a facility powered by coal may have a larger carbon footprint than a small-scale mine with traceable labour conditions. Responsibly sourced natural stones with a short, visible supply chain — like Australian sapphires we source directly from Queensland miners — represent a genuinely ethical choice. We do not use lab-grown stones as a marketing shortcut for ethical positioning.
Can I tell if a jeweller is selling me a lab stone as natural?
A reputable jeweller will always disclose whether a stone is laboratory-grown, and in most jurisdictions failing to do so constitutes misrepresentation. If you are buying from someone who cannot or will not tell you whether a stone is natural or lab-grown, that is a serious red flag. GIA and other major laboratories now routinely test and certificate lab-grown coloured stones, and a certificate from a reputable laboratory will state clearly whether a stone is natural or laboratory-grown. We disclose the origin and growing method of every stone we sell without exception.
Do lab-grown coloured stones need special care?
No. Because a lab-grown stone shares the same physical properties as a natural stone of the same species, it requires exactly the same care. Lab sapphire at Mohs 9 is just as durable as natural sapphire. Lab emerald at Mohs 7.5 to 8 benefits from the same protective setting considerations as a natural emerald. The care instructions are dictated by the mineral species, not the origin of the stone. If anything, some lab emeralds with better clarity than natural equivalents may be structurally slightly more robust due to fewer inclusions.
Why do you prefer natural stones if you also sell lab-grown?
We prefer natural stones because we have spent over twenty years working closely with natural material — learning its individual character, its geological personality, and the rarity that makes a fine stone genuinely precious. That preference is honest, not commercial. But we also believe that telling someone they must choose a natural stone when a lab-grown one suits their situation better would be doing them a disservice. Our job is to help you make the best possible decision for your piece, your life, and your values — and sometimes that means a lab-grown stone. We would rather be honest about both options than pretend only one exists.
Still Deciding? Let Us Help.
Natural or lab-grown — the best choice is the one you make with complete information. Bring your questions to a consultation and we will give you honest answers, side-by-side stone comparisons, and the time to decide without pressure.
Full Disclosure
Growing method disclosed on every stone
Grower Relationships
Direct sourcing, not anonymous bulk material
Honest Pricing
Lab stones priced significantly below naturals
Same Standard
The same quality eye we apply to everything