曾經(jīng)宣稱絕不出售人造鉆石的De Beers推出人造鉆石品牌

大家都知道那句廣告詞：“鉆石恒久遠(yuǎn)，一顆永流傳”。天然鉆石非常稀有珍貴，世界最大鉆石珠寶商戴比爾斯(De Beers)曾發(fā)誓永遠(yuǎn)不會出售人造寶石，但如今卻在做自己過去所不齒的事情：制造并出售人造鉆石。該公司表示：雖然人造鉆石不能恒久遠(yuǎn)，但是此時(shí)此刻完美就夠了。

The world's largest diamond miner is doing the unthinkable: Selling stones produced in a laboratory.

世界最大鉆石開采商正在做一件難以想象的事情：出售實(shí)驗(yàn)室環(huán)境中制造出來的鉆石。

De Beers launched a new jewelry brand last Tuesday that features synthetic diamonds, a major reversal for a company that had implored consumers to stick with "real" stones.

戴比爾斯上周二發(fā)布了一款新的珠寶品牌，產(chǎn)品主打人造鉆石。這家公司之前一直懇求消費(fèi)者堅(jiān)持購買“真正的”鉆石，如今，他們的經(jīng)營戰(zhàn)略出現(xiàn)重大轉(zhuǎn)折。

The brand, called Lightbox, will offer synthetic diamonds at a fraction of the price it charges for stones pulled out of the earth. De Beers framed the move as a response to consumer demands.

這一名為“燈箱”的珠寶品牌將提供人造鉆石，價(jià)格僅為天然鉆石的一個零頭。戴比爾斯稱此舉是為了滿足消費(fèi)者的需求。

"Lightbox will transform the lab-grown diamond sector by offering consumers a lab-grown product they have told us they want but aren't getting: affordable fashion jewelry that may not be forever, but is perfect for right now," said De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver.

戴比爾斯首席執(zhí)行官布魯斯•克利佛說：“燈箱品牌將向消費(fèi)者提供他們想要但是卻無法從現(xiàn)有市場獲取的產(chǎn)品，從而改變?nèi)嗽煦@石行業(yè)。來自實(shí)驗(yàn)室價(jià)格低廉的時(shí)尚珠寶可能無法恒久遠(yuǎn)，但至少此時(shí)此刻是完美的。”

Jewelry from the brand will go on sale in September. De Beers said prices will start at $200 for a quarter carat, and increase to $800 for a full carat stone. The company's natural stones start at roughly 10 times that amount, depending on their clarity and other attributes.

該品牌的珠寶將于9月份開始銷售。戴比爾斯表示，人造鉆石起價(jià)為1/4克拉200美元(1300元人民幣)，1克拉價(jià)格為800美元。該公司的天然寶石起價(jià)約為人造鉆石的10倍，具體價(jià)格取決于它們的凈度和其他方面的品質(zhì)。

De Beers had been an outspoken critic of synthetic diamonds. Company executives vowed never to sell artificial stones, and it participated in the diamond industry's "real is rare" campaign. It even developed a machine that spots lab-grown stones.

戴比爾斯一直是人造鉆石直言不諱的批評者。公司高層曾誓言永遠(yuǎn)不會出售人造寶石，并參與了鉆石行業(yè)的“真才難得”活動。該公司甚至發(fā)明了一種能夠辨別出實(shí)驗(yàn)室合成鉆石的儀器。

"De Beers' focus is on natural diamonds," Simon Lawson, the current head of research and development at De Beers, told Bloomberg in 2015. "We would not do anything that would cannibalize that industry."

“戴比爾斯的重心是天然鉆石，”戴比爾斯現(xiàn)任研發(fā)負(fù)責(zé)人西蒙•勞森2015年告訴彭博社說，“我們不會做任何有損這一行業(yè)的事情。”

Synthetic diamonds, which can be produced in about 500 hours, share the same physical, chemical and optical characteristics as natural stones. But they are not nearly as valuable.

約500小時(shí)就可以生產(chǎn)出一批人造鉆石，它們與天然寶石具有相同的物理、化學(xué)和光學(xué)特性，但兩者的價(jià)值卻有天壤之別。

De Beers has produced synthetic diamonds for years through a subsidiary called Element Six, but it has limited their use to industrial applications.

戴比爾斯多年來一直通過一家名為Element Six的子公司生產(chǎn)人造鉆石，但限制其只能應(yīng)用于工業(yè)生產(chǎn)。

The new synthetic diamonds will come in pink, blue and white, and the stones will contain a tiny Lightbox logo. De Beers said the logo won't be visible to the naked eye, but it will make the stones easily identifiable as lab-grown.

即將發(fā)售的人造鉆石的顏色有粉色、藍(lán)色和白色，鉆石上會刻有“燈箱”品牌的標(biāo)識。戴比爾斯表示，這一標(biāo)識肉眼無法看到，但讓人造鉆石很容易被辨別出來。

De Beers said it would invest $94 million over four years to build a new synthetic diamond production facility near Portland, Oregon.

戴比爾斯稱，未來四年內(nèi)將投資9400萬美元，在俄勒岡州波特蘭市附近建一個新的人造鉆石生產(chǎn)基地。