Our British made diamonds are like no other. Everything we need to create our diamonds comes from the sky, including something the world has too much of - CO₂. Our carbon is harvested from the atmosphere and held forever in a diamond, and our water is captured rain from the Cotswolds countryside. Wind and sun provide our energy: the entire process powered with our own renewables provided by our sister company, Ecotricity.
Founder of Skydiamonds and Ecotricity Skydiamond, Dale Vince OBE, is always aspiring for more sustainable way of doing things, to offer people 'another way'.
This is not ‘push button’ technology; it requires constant crafting and fine-tuning by our resident engineers and alchemists on site at our facilities in Gloucestershire, England. This is innovation working in harmony with Mother Nature for our next-generation diamonds.
The entire process takes place on site in our sky mining facility in the Cotswolds.
Step 1.
We extract CO₂ from the atmosphere, which we liquify and purify – an important step in ensuring the quality of our diamonds. With the CO₂ removed, the air released back into the atmosphere is cleaner than we found it.
Step 2.
We take rainwater collected from our factory roof and split it into oxygen and hydrogen using electrolysis.
Step 3.
CO₂ from the air and hydrogen from the rain are combined with biological single-cell life forms (the equivalent of a diamond sourdough starter) in a completely patented and bespoke process to create methane, which we feed into our diamond mills with a dash of nitrogen.
Step 4
Inside our mills we grow our Skydiamonds on tiny diamond seeds (which we also make) in a ball of plasma running at about 1,000 degrees Celsius – roughly the temperature of the outer layer of the sun. The renewable energy provided by the solar and wind power of our sister company, Ecotricity.
Step 5
Several weeks later, our diamonds have emerged. They are sent to some of the world’s best artisan diamond cutters, polished and then after certification, made up into our fine jewellery pieces by a father-son team in an artisan workshop also in the Cotswolds. All that remains is to brighten up the lives of our customers, who know they are wearing something beautiful from both inside and out.
What is a Diamond Seed?
Our diamond seeds come in different sizes and are essentially slithers of diamond which we made in-house. The diamond seed grows into a structurally perfect diamond.
Energy
Lab-grown diamonds need a lot of energy to produce. Luckily, everything on site is certified 100% deep green energy, powered by Dale Vince’s Ecotricity. Our green Diamond Mills ensure that our carbon footprint is carbon negative
Utilising excess CO2
In the true Skydiamond way, we want to be innovative and pragmatic with all our resources – not wasting anything we don’t have to. Because we often have a surplus of food-grade carbon dioxide, we are now using this created SkyGas, to power the beer pumps at Forest Green Rovers Football Club – the world’s greenest football club. This will keep us busy for now, but we’ll always be looking for ways to best utilise our CO2 as we grow.