My boyfriend had put himself through graduate school by polishing diamonds. With the objective mind of the physicist he would become, he reasoned that they were “just carbon.” But that most coveted of gems cannot be defined by a scientific term. A diamond is, as one Newsweek reporter put it, “a synonym for love.” It is a gift that packs an emotional punch.

My fiancé and I dreamed up a compromise. He would still give me a ring, but the diamond in it would be grown in a lab in just a few days and would be about 30 percent cheaper to boot (not to mention free of the human rights issues that have plagued the diamond industry). Turns out, we were on the cutting edge.

Lab-grown diamonds have been around since 1954, but recent technology has made them stronger, cheaper and virtually indistinguishable from their mined brethren. Indeed, without the slight flaws that mark even the most valuable sparkler, they may even come closer to perfection. Now companies like Takara Diamonds, Gemesis and Apollo Diamond are marketing gem-quality coloured diamonds to the masses. Apollo plans to produce two-carat rocks soon and is aiming to go as high as 10. Takara recently introduced a “fancy intense purplish pink” stone, which, at $2,100, is a fraction of what a similar natural one would cost.

Bryant Linares, CEO of Apollo Diamond, estimates that lab-grown gems comprise 6 percent of the market and quips, “Our motto is ‘Diamonds Are for Everyone.’”

Linares and his colleagues still have to consistently grow enough gem-quality diamonds for retailers and iron out the uneven manufacturing process. But the real question is whether these stones will ever eclipse “real” diamonds in the hearts of consumers. There’s a certain affinity for diamonds with pedigree, like the 3.4-billion-year-old South African beauty that Kim Sutch, director of De Beers’ Diamond Information Centre, took on a cross-Canada tour last fall. “Synthetics have a niche in fashion jewelry, but I doubt they will be completely accepted by women in the ‘gift of love’ category,” Sutch says. In other words, lab diamonds aren’t forever.