Update on Lab-Grown Diamonds - Not Available at KOENIG

Sustainability and transparency are very important to KOENIG.
The question of laboratory-grown diamonds and the origin of the materials used in jewelry comes up time and again, and we are happy to take the time to inform our customers in detail.

It is very important to emphasize that our company only uses natural gemstones. Why? Because a piece of jewelry is always a luxury item. Luxury is rare and valuable, usually irretrievable and tells a story that has been written by our earth over many millennia and should be passed down through generations.

Sustainability:
Lab grown diamonds are not as environmentally friendly as they seem and the end consumer is led to believe. The formation of a diamond requires extreme conditions of high temperature and high pressure, which are naturally present in the earth's mantle. Imitating these conditions requires vast amounts of energy and no one questions where these stones come from and under what working conditions the production takes place.

Price Stability and Transparency:
Initially in high demand, these stones commanded prices nearly on par with natural diamonds. However, the market soon became oversaturated, leading to a sharp drop in prices (70% over the past two years).
It has become apparent that these goods continue to be produced in ever-increasing quantities worldwide.
Pricing for natural diamonds is based on the Rapaport Diamond Report and is therefore standardized, functioning much like a stock exchange. You can learn more about this here: THE WORLD OF DIAMONDS.
To illustrate the pricing structure, Rapaport published an analysis in its January/February 2025 edition comparing a natural diamond weighing 1.01 carats, color F, clarity VVS2, GIA-certified, with a lab-grown diamond of the same quality.
The lab-grown diamond costs the jeweler $1,110 at cost and sells for an average of about $2,100 (excluding VAT), resulting in a profit margin of just under 90% on these stones.
For a natural diamond of this size, the so-called markup is only 17%, provided the jeweler follows Rapaport’s guidelines.

UPDATE: Current trends (as of September 2026) show that the market is increasingly distancing itself from “lab-grown” diamonds due to significant market oversaturation and unclear pricing.
Since lab-grown diamonds first appeared on the market in 2012, production has multiplied, but demand has been steadily declining—by 98.2% over the past 10 years. For example, a 5-carat lab-grown diamond, color F, clarity VS1, with a certificate, is already available for 460 USD.
So what does this mean? The answer is likely clear, as customers of luxury goods expect a product that lives up to that status. Consequently, the prices of natural diamonds—a rare commodity—are likely to recover slowly, and the initial hype surrounding lab-grown diamonds has already passed, much like that surrounding synthetic sapphires and rubies several decades ago, which are now considered worthless within the industry.
Above all, the reaction of De Beers—which has completely ceased the production and distribution of lab-grown diamonds—should serve as a clear signal of what holds promise for the future and what does not.

If you have detailed questions about the production and origin of our pieces, we are always available to answer them. Or take a look behind the scenes of our atelier yourself, because "seeing is believing", as we like to say.

Your family König and team