"Look, you're almost going blind," says Paulina Kurka, slowly moving the necklace back and forth.

The incoming rays of sun break on the small stones - the colorful glitter casts a spell on everyone.

"Like a disco ball," adds Cem Dogan.

He also finds it difficult to take his eyes off of him.

One of the largest laboratory-grown diamonds in the world sparkles in Paulina Kurka's hands: 8.5 carats, set in 18-carat recycled white gold.

Anna Wender

Editor in the department "Society & Style"

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The "Gaia necklace" is not usually just lying around in Veynou's showroom in downtown Frankfurt.

It costs 150,000 euros.

"But you have to make the jewelery something that can be experienced," says Phillip Deml.

The thirty-one year old knows what he's talking about.

He first encountered lab-grown diamonds more than two years ago while searching for the perfect engagement ring for Kurka.

He himself describes it as a "eureka moment" when he realized that something like this is even possible: "You think diamonds can only be created in the earth, but there is another way."

The engagement was the starting shot

He told his girlfriend about this discovery as inconspicuously as possible.

She was too afraid that she might insist on a “real” diamond from the mine.

Kurka was immediately smitten, and Deml was convinced that the romantic notion behind diamonds doesn't come from their origins.

Although Paulina Kurka expected an application, it was a surprise for the twenty-nine-year-old at the beginning of 2021 - and at the same time the starting signal for Veynou.

The ring made her a co-founder of her fiancé's new startup.

Deml already knows the scene.

Together with Cem Dogan he founded "Flapgrip" in 2019.

In 2020 they were guests at "Die Höhle der Löwen" with the multifunctional smartphone holder and won Ralf Dümmel as an investor.

"Flapgrip still exists, but it's not our focus anymore," explains Deml.

"It's based on what we love - and that's Veynou." Deml and Dogan are not only business partners, they are also linked by a long-standing friendship: "You talk openly about everything and share your ideas," says Deml.

Veynou was such an idea and both of them couldn't let it go - no wonder that Deml wanted his friend Dogan at his side for this project as well.

"Match made in a lab"

As career changers, they brought in strong partners who are familiar with jewelry for Kurka's engagement ring.

The family company Rauschmayer from Pforzheim has been making wedding and engagement rings for half a century - and is networked with experts all over the world.

Since then, Rauschmayer has not only produced for Veynou, but also has a stake in the company.

"Match made in a lab", as Deml says.

There, in the laboratory in Pforzheim, the diamonds are created.

Their chemical, physical and optical properties correspond to those of stones from the mine.

It would therefore be wrong to speak of artificial diamonds.

“The process that normally occurs in nature is replicated in the laboratory.

The result is a stone that is 100 percent a diamond, which has to be processed in the same way as one from the mine,” explains Deml.

Atomic rain in the laboratory

In order to get such a rough diamond, two synthesis techniques are currently used.

"People always say that diamonds are created under pressure," Dogan explains.

In large industrial presses - through pressure and high temperatures - diamonds are made from pure carbon.