Human life is fleeting and fickle. But what if some particle of a person may be used to create something that will last forever and will not be subject to the movement of time? Such an opportunity now exists making it possible to produce a real diamond from human hair and even put on it a personal laser photo. This kind of memory will not fade, because "a diamond is forever."
For the first time I came to know about diamonds “made from a human being” at the Smart Jewelry Show in Chicago. When I was rushing to interview the organizers half an hour before the closing time, a question went flying after me from the stand of Infinity Diamond: "Have you ever heard of carbon diamonds?" In 40 minutes curiosity brought me back to their booth to fill my knowledge gap. It turned out that Infinity Diamond is producing white and colored diamonds from personal carbon, which can be obtained from a regular curl of human hair (or a flock of animal fur!) and other organic matter. Personally, I found out about this for the first time in my life!
“What we've found at the show is that we have a good niche in this market. We're a new company, and this is the first time we are bringing our product to the jewelry industry. This show has been extremely wonderful in the sense that we've been able to speak to so many jewelry store owners and to show exactly how unique our product is over anything else,” Scott Shaffer, President of Infinity Diamond (Minneapolis) told Rough&Polished.
Scott, a former high school physics teacher, taught his students the science of nature and matter a while back ago, explaining how to turn carbon into diamonds among other things. Later, he put his knowledge on a business basis and founded a company producing "very personal diamonds."
"We create diamonds using the personal carbon taken from a lock of hair. By taking a little bit of hair from an entire family, we break it down into pure carbon. We then use that carbon to create a laboratory made diamond. So quite literally the diamond is made from the family which then can be headed down for future generations. We can do them in a variety of colors, there's nothing more unique and personal than what we do," the head of Infinity Diamond said.
As you know, diamonds are pure carbon, which was the basis for developing organic compounds and which is the basis of life on the Earth. Carbon can be obtained not only from the hair, it can be obtained from all living things. For example, you can get it from a wedding bouquet of flowers, which will eventually die. However, you can perpetuate the bouquet and associated memorable moment, if you gather the carbon it contains, clean it and exposing to high temperature and pressure turn it into a diamond. There is a vast room for imagination in terms of choosing the base material - from a curl of hair of a newborn baby to flocks of fur taken from beloved cats and dogs.
Interesting, but these diamonds are made in Russia. According to Scott Shaffer, Infinity Diamond is directly cooperating with Heart In Diamond, a Russian manufacturer of personal diamonds containing, as their website says, "DNA elements." They also have a competitor in Russia, Diamond Heart, promoting the products of an U.S. company, LifeGem, under the brand name of "Diamonds of Love."
According to the founder of Infinity Diamond, it takes three months from the time they receive the “carbon sample” from their customers to the time they can deliver the diamond. Customers are able to choose the size of their diamond from.03 ct up to 2 ct., they can choose a wide variety of cuts as well as the color of the stone - blue, red, yellow, amber and white – and in addition they can also select the organic carbon source (hair, flowers, fur, or even clothing).
Prices for such diamonds start at $799 up to $21,400 USD, Scott Shaffer told Rough&Polished. Asked what was more expensive, a diamond made from personal carbon or a natural diamond made, so to say, from “public” carbon, Scott said: “A.75 ct blue personal carbon diamond is far less expensive than a natural.75 ct blue natural diamond of equal color and clarity. However, a.75 ct blue personal carbon diamond will be more expensive when compared to a typical white diamond.”
Diamonds made by Infiniti Diamond are certified by GIA. Each diamond is given a unique GIA number inscribed on it with a laser. On customer’s request, the stone may even bear a personal message and photo of the client, which can be seen with 10x magnification.
For centuries, alchemists tried to unravel the secret of how to turn ordinary metal into gold, but modern science has learned how to make diamonds out of ordinary hair, an old herbarium or fur of a beloved cat. Is not the accomplishment of alchemical dreams?
Olga Patseva, Editor in Chief of the American Bureau, Rough&Polished
