Press

The future of diamonds is still all about love, but now with some important caveats. The diamond industry continues to believe that personal and romantic relationships drive sales of diamond jewellery, but this alone doesn’t quite seem to resonate with, or appeal to, today’s consumer.

“Diamonds are still considered symbolic of romance and relationships, but today’s consumers are asking for something more.” Explains the president of the World Diamond Council, Edward Asscher, in an online meeting that took place on the 19th of October. “The key concepts of today are sustainability, ethical diamonds, and proving that human rights have been respected throughout production” added Asscher.

This is a positioning which the industry has been considering for some time, and which has given birth to projects such as Tracemark, supported by Spanish firm Facet.

The conference took place between representatives of member companies of the Kimberley Process: the World Diamond Council (WDC) and representatives of governments who have ratified the process. All agreed upon the importance of “maintaining and improving” consumer confidence at a sustainability and ethics level.

In this sense, the representative from De Beers, David Prager, described how the role of brands is key: “Brands don’t just have to adopt a positoning, they must take action. Being a brand is more than selling a product that consumers want. It’s also about understanding what is important to consumers and how to align yourself with their values.”

The Seven Diamond Commandments

The forum also aimed to shed light on one key mystery: the future of the Kimberley Process,  a scheme criticised on many occasions by almost all industry players – a standard described by them in similar terms to democracy: “the least worst system out there.”

In this vein, the president of the World Diamond Council launched a proposal to introduce seven key guiding principles which aim to support “responsible sourcing.” These, says Asscher, will meet key global coventions related to:

• Human rights
• Labour relations
• Environmental practices
• Anti-corruption and money laundering
• Development of mining communities
• Differentiation between natural and synthetic diamonds.

Taken from an original article published at Gold and Time.