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(1) Algordanza, a small company based in the mountainous southeast of Switzerland, uses the ashes of dead people to make diamonds as a permanent memento for their nearest and dearest. And with prices starting at less than 5,000 euros ($7,488), the jewels are not solely the preserve of the jetset.
"Some people find it helpful to go to the cemetery and grieve, and they leave their grief in the cemetery," said Algordanza Chairman Veit Brimer. "There are some people who, for whatever reason, do not want to have this farewell.
The technology for making artificial diamonds was first pioneered by General Electric in the 1950s, and mirrors nature by subjecting carbon to huge pressure and temperature.
Synthetic diamonds have become so common that GIA now grades their quality, so buyers can assess what they are getting compared with a natural diamond.
John Cordova, vice president of California-based engagement ring store Robbins Bros said synthetic diamonds are "in general a little less expensive" than natural ones, but it depends on each individual stone.
Algordanza does 40 percent of its business in Japan, its largest market, where cremation is more common because land is so scarce.
Many clients from Europe travel to Chur to accompany the deceased on their final journey and meet the people who will turn the ashes into a diamond. Often the gem is mounted in jewellery, which the bereaved then wear to maintain close contact with their loved one.
Brimer says remembrance diamonds do not appeal to everyone, and is astonished at Algordanza's success -- it does not give sales figures, but said the first quarter of 2008 -- the latest details publicly available -- was its most successful three-month period yet.
In its first year, 2004, the company sold one diamond. These days it is creating about 60 a month, which Brimer attributes to word-of-mouth recommendations and media coverage, as Algordanza does not advertise. ■Reuters
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