A few years back—it must have been 2018—at JCK Las Vegas, I visited with the team at Lark & Berry. The brand was new—a responsible jeweler from across the pond, dealing only in lab-grown diamonds and gemstones.
To my recollection, it was the first solely lab-grown brand I’d met. And I was blown away by its cool offerings. I left the booth with a wish list about a mile long.
It took no time at all for lab-grown jewelry to bloom in popularity. I can now say I know several people who have gotten engaged with lab-grown diamonds, and the fashion jewelry is all over Instagram.
In just a short time, Lark & Berry has amassed quite a following and even made several appearances on the red carpet. Many jewelers have since announced their own line of lab-grown jewels, and while some of those announcements have made waves, Lark & Berry can safely say it beat them to it.
“I remember when we were just launching, one of our own designers was hesitant about using only lab-grown diamonds,” recounts founder Laura Chavez. “I had just entered the industry, so I think it was easier for me to jump right into something new. She, however, had been in the industry for over a decade, so mined diamonds were all she knew. Once she learned a bit more and saw that cultured diamonds were undeniably the same as mined diamonds—or even routinely better—and realized the benefits in sourcing they allowed versus mining for diamonds, she was totally won over to the cause of lab-grown. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing many more people, in real time, become supporters since—industry professionals and customers alike—and it’s been extremely rewarding.
The new brand was on a fast track to growth, and then came the pandemic.
“We had to learn to adapt to new regulations and global changes as they were happening. It all changed literally from one day to another, and it all still continues to shift, even nearly three years later,” says Chavez. “We have a physical store in London, so having to lockdown on and off really caused uncertainty in how we would continue to grow. I was scared at times that we might not survive. Some supply chains became so slow that we would sometimes have to wait weeks for shipments to arrive, when it had previously been days.
“But then, a wonderful thing began to happen,” Chavez continues. “Our online sales began to grow immensely worldwide—not only for fine jewelry and piercings, which were our core, but also for engagement rings, which we had just launched. Customers kept in contact, letting us know they loved what we were doing, and I saw more people become convinced by cultured and ‘join our cause,’ as it were, through this digital correspondence. Even in the short windows of reopenings between 2020 and later 2021, we’d get booked solid with piercing appointments. It all just served as a heartfelt verification to me that Lark & Berry would keep going at all costs, and that we’re doing something good.”
Like many of us, Lark & Berry is stepping into 2022 with a fresh take and a reinvention of sorts. “This year is very exciting for us,” Chavez says. “We have created beautiful, bolder, diverse, and inclusive collections that we will launch almost every month, continuing for a few months straight. We have colorful collections coming for spring. We are putting the finishing touches on a new collection done in collaboration with an amazing model, and we even have a new collection geared towards those seeking different price points but who still want beautifully designed jewelry.”
The first of those collections is the very chic Eclipsis, a line featuring contrasting cultured black onyx and mother-of-pearl in addition to lab-grown diamonds.
The line was designed to be gender-fluid, with two looks in one: The wearer need only choose which side to wear their pieces on, rotating between black or white (or, in the case of earrings, perhaps one of each). In addition to the two-sided designs, some of the offerings feature both the black onyx and mother-of-pearl side by side.
“This freedom of choice is not only what gives the collection its playfulness but also represents the values of the brand,” it reads in the collection’s notes. “Just like an eclipse reveals daylight after darkness, Lark & Berry’s cultured stones shine a light on the dark side of the industry and coax it forward into the brightness, by setting the example to adopt sustainability without compromising design.”
“I think our pieces are becoming increasingly daring, which I’m loving, and yet they still retain that everyday-fine-jewelry-wear factor,” says Chavez. “Thematically, that conjoining of luxury-meets-everyday really resonates with me, because everything for us always goes back to making the public aware of the benefits of cultured stones. We want to offer beautiful pieces to gift a loved one, or to self-gift, that not only say, ‘this makes my outfit’ but also shows that one is choosing a beautifully designed, sustainably sound fine jewelry piece.”
The collection goes live Friday with more new releases to follow.
“We know there’s still a long way to go,” Chavez says. “Lark & Berry has so much to do, as we are still a new brand and a small part of a huge industry. But we’ve received so much positive response from customers, celebrities, the press—it’s greatly aiding us with continued growth and to have new offerings that our customers want.”
Top: Earrings in 18k yellow gold with lab-grown mother-of-pearl, black onyx, and diamonds, £1,995 ($2,680)
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