Diamond Nexus Labs

Diamond Nexus Labs is a producer and marketer of laboratory-produced gemstones. The company owns the trademark: “The World Leader in Laboratory Created Precious Gemstones”. The company produces and sells laboratory created rubies, emeralds sapphires and canary diamonds. However the company’s key product is a proprietary, patent pending diamond simulant product marketed as the “Diamond Nexus” gemstone. The company sells their products directly to the consumer in finished jewelry and as loose gemstones through their website, catalogues and “Diamond Nexus” branded retail locations.

Company

Diamond Nexus Labs is a division of Lautrec Corporation, located in Wyoming. The company was launched in 2004 and experienced significant growth. In 2009 the company was listed as number 294 on the Internet Retailer IR500 list of America’s largest internet companies.

The company lists their mission statement as:

To provide luxury products that satisfies the soul's desire to feel respected and the mind's desire to feel smart.^{[citation needed]}

Environmental impact

Diamond Nexus Labs states that their simulants are better for the environment than diamonds because their simulants do not require the ill effects of mining. They also state that their laboratories and production facilities use environmentally friendly practices, they do not use dangerous chemicals, they recycle all excess materials used in production, they use recycled gold whenever possible and their catalogues are printed on recycled paper with soy ink.^{[citation needed]}

Corporate Locations

The company is headquartered in Franklin, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. The company operates a research facility and coating production operation in Austin, Texas. The company creates its proprietary crystal material through strategic partnerships^{[clarification needed]} with companies located in Niagara, New York and Novosibirsk Russian Federation. The company additionally has offices in Hong Kong and a jewelry production facility in Guangzhou, PRC.

Products

Diamond Nexus Labs created rubies, emeralds, sapphires and canary diamonds are the exact optical, physical and chemical duplicate of natural mined stones. The “Diamond Nexus” lab created simulant product is a close match to a natural mined diamond optically and physically, but the chemistry is entirely different. The product has reportedly gone through several versions and improvements since its debut. The product currently features a patent-pending core material containing zirconium oxide, (ZrO₂) hafnium and gadolinium as well as trace amounts of other elements, and a 120-140 nm thick Corundum coating. The coating technology is patent pending. The diamond simulant product is claimed to nearly match the brilliance, dispersion, refraction, toughness and porosity of a mined diamond and to be indistinguishable from a natural mined diamond to an untrained observer.^{[citation needed]} However a thermal-probe test will distinguish the stone from a natural diamond. The stones are reportedly uniformly Grade D colorless and flawless. The company also produces a line of colored diamond simulants in hues such as: rose, canary, chocolate, ice blue and champagne. The stones are covered by a lifetime guarantee to never chip, discolor or become damaged.

Miss Universe Association

Since 2009, Diamond Nexus Labs has been the Official Jeweler to the Miss Universe Organization, producers of the crown for the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA Pageants. The Miss Universe Organization is a joint venture of Donald Trump and the NBC Universal Television Group.

Diamond Nexus Labs designed and produced the crowns for all three pageants, which are valued in excess of $200,000 USD each.^{[citation needed]} The design for the Miss Universe Crown was selected by the public and fans through a worldwide online contest called “Choose the Crown” in which over five-hundred thousand people voted for their favorite crown from a choice of three. The crown was unveiled for the first time on live television during the 2009 Miss Universe pageant.

Diamond Nexus Labs was selected by NBC/Universal and the Miss Universe Organization as Official Jeweler as part of NBC’s “Green is Universal” environmental initiative.

Media

Diamond Nexus Labs jewelry has been featured with title credit in various television programs and movies such as NBC’s The Biggest Loser (Grand Finale episode) and Fox’s Human Target (2010 TV series) (Season 2 Episode 3: “Taking Ames”).

Controversy

Claims, specifically from www.Betterthandiamond.com, have been made that Diamond Nexus Labs simulants are nothing more than cubic zirconia.^{[citation needed]}. They claim to have three independent lab test that show Diamond Nexus diamonds are ordinary cubic zirconia.

In response, Diamond Nexus Labs has brought lawsuits against several companies^[who?] that have made claims that their simulants are cubic zirconia. Diamond Nexus Labs has their stones independently certified by American International Gemologists. The company also has an “A” Rating with the Better Business Bureau.^{[citation needed]}

Resources

http://www.internetretailer.com/top500/list/?page=3
http://www.diamondnexuslabs.com/crown.php
http://www.diamondnexuslabs.com/information.php
http://www.facebook.com/DiamondNexus