“TRACEABILITY”

This term is in vogue. 

Especially with the emergence of blockchain technology to trace the diamonds provence and its trip along the supply chain. 

However, it has essentially just re-dressed standard industry practices in a cloak of digital prestige. 

What do I mean? Let me explain further…

After LV released their latest diamond collection, one of the core marketing messages was around the traceability of the diamond, from Mine To Market. 

This made us curious. How? How could they trace the mined rough diamond, through to the final resting place…

Does this new underlying technology provide any further insights that were previously limited due to the lack of technical advancements? 

Well, no. Not really. 

Recently, we’ve been doing a lot of research into Tiffany & Co’s. and Louis Vuitton’s claims of traceability of their diamonds. 

Stated on the LV website:

“Louis Vuitton expands and deepens its commitment to sustainable practices both environmentally and socially, while introducing the first-ever blockchain-based fully digital diamond certificate.”

Firstly, let’s quickly explain what the service provides.

LV uses digital certificates, stored on the Aura blockchain that documents the unique characteristics of the stone, provenance and journey. 

The digitalisation of the certificate on the blockchain, simply means that instead of a hard copy, they use a soft copy - stored on an impressive piece of technology. 

The level of transparency hasn't increased, it just creates a version of the certificate that has an address/code that is stored in your digital wallet. 

Each element of the certificate still has a level of human adjudication that is carried out along the supply chain. 

For example, all stages of the process are recorded for the digital certificate. So although the technology is impressive - it does not provide any further clarity on the journey of the stone. It is simply a more advanced method of storing the data. 

Our issue with this new marketing message, is the perception that  it creates an increased level of transparency over the entire supply chain.

The key aspect that we are looking at is the fact that the accuracy of these tracking points begin at the ‘sorting stage’ - generally in Belgium or India. 

At this stage, the rough diamonds are classified and advanced to the new stages of cutting and polishing. Prior to this, the rough diamonds are lost in large batches of stones from several mines from across the world. There is very little certainty on specifically where these rough diamonds come from prior to reaching the sorting hubs in Belgium or India. 

Of course, once a rough diamond is deemed viable for cutting, the traceability can be quite accurate. However, prior to this - the vagueness of ‘trusted suppliers’ leaves much to be desired. 

At the mining stages, the degree to which they can promise sustainability and ethical practices, is that of the same of any jeweller who’s suppliers must adhere to the compliance of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) and the Kimberley Process. 

I am not suggesting that there is a deliberate obfuscation - I am simply saying that their transparency is no different to 95%+ of all jewellers in the market. At this day in time, no jeweller can provide any further guarantees. 

The one and only way a jeweller could guarantee ultimate supply chain visibility, is if they directly owned the mined and processes that brought your rough through to the shop window. 

There are several coloured gemstone suppliers who can provide this level of transparency - such as locally mined and cut sapphire manufacturers here in Australia. However, we are not at this stage in the diamond industry. 

For example, see one of our latest sapphire designs. This is from one of our suppliers in North Queensland - who mine and cut all their stones. A two person operation, which is an amazingly intimate and personal experience. Prior to you owning the ring - only a select few people have ever handled these stones. This is a very important factor for us choosing to work with Australian sapphires.

We do of course work a lot with natural and lab created diamonds - however we strongly believe in complete transparency around the processes and guarantees that we and the entire industry can make.