The Natural and Lab-Grown Diamond Sectors Need to Stop Fighting

(jckonline.com) - At the recent Dubai Diamond Conference panel on lab-grown diamonds, William Shor, managing partner of Caspian VC, one of the companies backing Diamond Foundry, made a startling suggestion. “My colleagues would welcome the opportunity to co-market with [natural] diamond producers,” he said. On one level, Shor’s suggestion makes no sense. His colleague, Diamond Foundry chief executive officer Martin Roscheisen, just wrote a magazine piece that accuses diamond miners of “price collusion.” (He provides no real evidence for this claim.) Doesn’t look like he’s ready for co-marketing. On another level, Shor’s suggestion makes all the sense in the world. Why can’t the two sectors work together? Neither sector is going away. They both have money. They both need customers. A large number of companies currently sell both, including, of course, De Beers.