Gemesis: New gem resembles real thing

By Barbara Wieland

Lansing State Journal

OKEMOS - Place a Gemesis cultured, colored diamond beside a natural colored diamond, and you'd have a hard time telling the two apart.

Unlike a mined diamond, a Gemesis stone is made in a laboratory. Even so, the Gemesis diamond has color and clarity comparable to the mined variety, enthusiasts say.

However, a quick glance at a price tag gives away the Gemesis diamond. The lab-made diamonds, on sale at Wheat Jewelers in Okemos, sell for a fraction of the cost of a mined colored diamond.

"The Gemesis diamond sells for $2,000 on up. To get the same sort of natural diamond, you'd pay at least $8,000," said Kevin Wheat, president of Wheat Jewelers in Okemos.

Wheat Jewelers is the sole Michigan distributor for Gemesis diamonds. So far, Wheat is shipping the stones to four jewelers in the state.

Gemesis diamonds are available in yellow and a vivid Spartan green made for the Lansing market. Sarasota, Fla.-based Gemesis plans to introduce red, pink, purple and blue diamonds in coming months.

Such colors are available in natural diamonds, too, though the brilliant colors are rare and costly.

The company doesn't sell clear diamonds for jewelry.

Because Gemesis controls the production process and doesn't have to pay for the upkeep of a mine, it can sell its colored gems for substantially less than natural stones.

"What's interesting about Gemesis is they've put colored diamonds in everyone's price range," Wheat said.

The manufacturing process starts with a small diamond chip or "seed." The seed is subjected to extreme heat and pressure in a special chamber.

"We put that seed in a machine that replicates how a diamond is grown in nature," said Rob Chodelka, vice president of product management for Gemesis.

After four days at temperatures as high as 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and under 850,000 pounds per square inch of pressure, a 3-carat diamond is born.

Different elements added during the growing process produce different colored gems, Chodelka said. For example, nitrogen lends a yellow glow to diamonds.

To distinguish the cultured diamonds from their mined cousins, Gemesis engraves its name on the edge of a cut stone.

Dorian Lange said the half-carat yellow Gemesis diamond he owns looks as good as the mined variety. Lange won the stone at a giveaway at Wheat Jewelers.

He said he was "awestruck" by the brilliant gem and plans to give it to his daughter, Chelsea, when she graduates from Eaton Rapids High School next year.

"You absolutely can't tell the difference between this stone and another diamond," he said as he picked up the prize from the jeweler. "It looks like a higher-grade gem. You'd never know."

Contact Barbara Wieland at 267-1348 or bwieland@lsj.com.