What is a lab-grown diamond?

A lab-grown diamond is a real diamond, chemically and physically identical to one formed underground, produced by replicating the same carbon-crystallization process in a controlled environment. Two methods are used: High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), both yielding diamonds graded by IGI across the same four criteria applied to any diamond: cut, color, clarity, and carat. Valquère's centre stones ship with an IGI certificate confirming their grades. Because production cost is lower than mining, lab-grown diamonds are priced significantly below mined equivalents of the same grade, without any difference in optical or physical properties. The word "synthetic" sometimes implies fake, but no gemological body classifies lab-grown diamonds that way. If you are comparing two IGI-graded stones of identical cut and color, the growth origin is the only material difference between them.