"Nothing Lasts Forever" is apt title for this short but interesting documentary on the diamond business, focusing on the diamond cartels and the rise of synthetic diamonds.
We follow a Serbian gemologist with 30 years of experience as he tells us about the production of synthetic diamonds in China. And about how the cartels, as they publicly deride the rise of synthetic diamonds, actually take advantage of them.
We hear from a diamond dealer, who, in trying to convince us how special and valuable real diamonds are, inadvertently tells us about how fabricated the value of real diamonds are - he admits the entire business is about selling a story, a lie.
We listen to an Indian jewelry designer who levels with us that diamonds are basically worthless and how an entire luxury market has been created by selling lies and catering to people's vanity. She's believable because that's her business.
The truth is that diamonds are not rare. Ms Aja Raden tells us there are enough supply to give every person on Earth (8 billion people) a 1/2 carat diamond ring with another 1/2 billion carat left over. It's a glut that keeps on growing.
Essentially, diamonds have value only because many people give it value. And so, like money, if you flood the market with "fakes" such synthetic diamonds, you reduce confidence and hence the overall value of the commodity.
At least that's what the cartels want you to believe. Aja Raden tells us the cartels are actually producing their own synthetic diamonds. Not to sell, but to undercut all other, smaller synthetic producers. The goal is to make "fake" diamonds uneconomical.
It's a two-prong strategy: 1) convince people that "real" diamonds have value, and 2) make sure that they control the production of "fake" diamonds by pricing others out. In the end, it's win-win for the cartels.
We follow a Serbian gemologist with 30 years of experience as he tells us about the production of synthetic diamonds in China. And about how the cartels, as they publicly deride the rise of synthetic diamonds, actually take advantage of them.
We hear from a diamond dealer, who, in trying to convince us how special and valuable real diamonds are, inadvertently tells us about how fabricated the value of real diamonds are - he admits the entire business is about selling a story, a lie.
We listen to an Indian jewelry designer who levels with us that diamonds are basically worthless and how an entire luxury market has been created by selling lies and catering to people's vanity. She's believable because that's her business.
The truth is that diamonds are not rare. Ms Aja Raden tells us there are enough supply to give every person on Earth (8 billion people) a 1/2 carat diamond ring with another 1/2 billion carat left over. It's a glut that keeps on growing.
Essentially, diamonds have value only because many people give it value. And so, like money, if you flood the market with "fakes" such synthetic diamonds, you reduce confidence and hence the overall value of the commodity.
At least that's what the cartels want you to believe. Aja Raden tells us the cartels are actually producing their own synthetic diamonds. Not to sell, but to undercut all other, smaller synthetic producers. The goal is to make "fake" diamonds uneconomical.
It's a two-prong strategy: 1) convince people that "real" diamonds have value, and 2) make sure that they control the production of "fake" diamonds by pricing others out. In the end, it's win-win for the cartels.