Nikki Reed says we don't need to mine for diamonds anymore
Money might not grow on trees, but Nikki Reed is growing diamonds.
The actress, environmentalist, and entrepreneur visited the Build Series studios on Friday to discuss style for Brit + Co’s #CreateGood summit, which aims to help people be the best versions of themselves possible. Reed’s sustainable lifestyle brand, Bayou With Love, launched a revolutionary recycled jewelry line in January with the help of Dell. But she just added diamonds to the collection, and she opened up about the innovative addition during her #CreateGood panel.
The diamonds are part of Bayou With Love’s new bridal line, which is stocked with simple engagement rings and dainty bands.
The controversial diamond industry may seem like an unnatural move for the eco-conscious woman. But she’s not mining for diamonds. She’s growing them. With seeds.
“With our engagement line, we’re using all cultivated diamonds,” Reed told Brit + Co co-founder Brit Morin. She admitted to not knowing that cultivated diamonds were until now. “I’m learning too,” Reed said. “Cultivated diamonds are diamonds that are — they’re bio-identical diamonds,” the Twilight alum said. “So for a long time the diamond industry didn’t want to acknowledge them and wanted to call them man-made diamonds, and lab diamonds, and synthetic diamonds, and words that would naturally turn you off from that type of stone,” she continued. “Truthfully, they’re 100 percent diamonds. They’re bio-identical diamonds, and they’re grown from diamond seeds,” she said. “And we’re using diamonds that are actually grown above ground using solar energy in California.”
They’re grown in a lab, and Reed’s not the first to do it; the process has been in development for decades but is still being perfected. De Beers started selling the gems earlier this year. “You buy cultivated diamonds grown from these little particles,” Reed explained.
This felt like the right move for Reed, who gave birth to her first child with Ian Somerhalder in July 2017, just before launching Bayou With Love. “So it’s very exciting because this, to me, was so inspiring — the thought that we can create something that’s beautiful, and luxurious, and also good for the planet. And merging this world of fashion and tech and sustainability, it was just really exciting for me,” she said. “Because this is — it’s not the future, it’s now, right? We don’t need to be mining for things anymore.”
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