Paris (AFP)

The jeweler Courbet, installed place Vendôme in Paris, presented Tuesday a collection of jewelery set with diamonds of laboratory produced in France, a first while these gems are mainly manufactured in the United States, Russia or China.

Young brand launched in 2018 and which claims to be "ecological", Courbet uses only recycled gold, from electronic or industrial waste, and stones grown in the laboratory that have the same physical and chemical properties as those extracted from a mine .

"So far, we bought diamonds grown in Russia, in a site that uses a hydroelectric plant, and in the United States in a solar-powered company, but our ambition has always been to have a circuit more short, and supply us in France, "said AFP CEO Courbet, Manuel Mallen.

For its collection called Pont des Arts, which has only 8 pieces, Courbet used diamonds manufactured by Diam Concept, housed in a CNRS laboratory in Seint-Saint-Denis and only in France to produce stones. laboratory for jewelery.

"I've been working on these techniques since 1988," Al Diam Gicquel, Diam Concept's researcher and CEO, said, literally "pushing" diamonds for four to six weeks: in a "reactor", sort of microwave oven, are introduced hydrogen and methane which at very high temperatures crystallize carbon, layer by layer, on a thin sliver of diamond.

In a few months, a fundraising will allow Diam Concept to intensify its production thanks to three new "reactors" - each costing 500,000 euros - and to manufacture some 2,000 rough diamonds in 2020.

"100% jewelery made in France has as much meaning as a watchmaker 100% made in Switzerland," says Manuel Mallen, whose brand puts forward "unprecedented traceability and transparency, as well as a very low carbon footprint ".

He believes that "ecological" jewelry is "a backdrop, there is more and more demand, our customers want to consume differently, as they already do for food, clothes or cars."

In France, the prices of laboratory stones are generally 30 to 40% lower than those of mining diamonds. In his collection, Courbet proposes for example a pink gold ring, set with a cultured diamond of 0.4 carat, at 4.200 euros.

© 2019 AFP