De Beers will ditch a controversial experiment to sell lab grown diamond jewellery, ending a six-year program that broke one of its oldest taboos. While the company long held the technology to make synthetic gems, it always refused to sell them as jewellery, fearing they would undercut the allure of natural stones. Yet as man-made stones gained traction and started competing directly with natural diamonds, De Beers launched its own jewellery brand in 2018.