As an influential voice in lab-grown diamonds, ALTR and J’evar founder Amish Shah (pictured) says the jewelry industry needs to take its conversation around lab-grown diamonds from one of fear to one about creativity, innovation, and consumer branding.
“Are we done with the nonsense? Let’s work together,” Shah told JCK at the JCK Las Vegas show, where he was promoting three new lab-grown jewelry collections and marketing lab-grown diamonds as an important contributor to the growth of fine jewelry.
Shah is hardly a new voice for promoting lab-grown diamonds; he was named Lab Grown Diamonds Magazine’s Most Influential Voice of 2023 and he has been called “the Elon Musk of the diamond industry” because of his commitment to lab-grown diamonds since founding ALTR Created Diamonds in 2016 and J’evar in 2023.
Shah says he sees fashion diamond jewelry as the next frontier for lab-grown diamonds. This is an important shift for lab-grown, he says, and he hopes J’evar as a fine jewelry brand will provide another reason for consumers to buy lab-grown diamonds for everyday wear.
J’evar’s new Type collection is the first-ever full collection of initials and letters cut from single pieces of lab-grown rough, says Shah. ALTR produces the lab-grown diamonds, which are each hand-cut to ensure the desired shape and sparkle. Shah calls Type “technology-guided, artisan-crafted.” He worked with co-founder Ritesh Shah on creation of the diamond initial shapes and Heath Wagoner in conceptualizing the jewelry for each of them.
Consumers who will buy diamond fashion jewelry with lab-grown diamonds are ready for this type of collection, Shah says.
“The consumer doesn’t need to sell themselves. They believe [in lab-grown diamonds],” he says. “We’re setting a benchmark for design and innovation as well as taking a fine jewelry space position [with Type] at prices between $1,500 to $5,000.”
Shah also is promoting J’evar’s Lotus Petals collection, introduced in late 2023. The name comes from the way the patent-pending setting seems to wrap around the lab-grown diamond like a lotus petal, he explains. (“It’s snag free,” something that is especially important in tennis bracelets and necklaces, Shah says. “Jewelry needs to not only be beautiful but also comfortable.”)
And J’evar is working on a collection called Lighthouse, featuring a diamond cut that Shah compared to a Fresnel lens—the type used in lighthouses to capture more light and make it visible at greater distances. He says this symmetrically faceted elongated oval-shape diamond will set a benchmark for the industry—something he believes will bring more people into fine jewelry and, most important, into fine jewelry stores.
“We need to take away the negativity [around lab-grown diamonds] and tell our own stories,” Shah says. “Consumers will make the decision, much like they did between the experiences in taxis versus Ubers.… Having a vision is the first step.”
(Photos courtesy of ALTR)
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