Diamond culturing, as the type I originally posted about, is relatively new in the jewelry industry. The diamonds made up until recently were not gem quality and small, suitable for commercial applications only. Crystals of the size needed for cutting and polishing in fine jewelry were not possible to make in the quantities needed to make it profitable.

But yes, the technology needed to make diamonds has been extant since about the 1950s. The machines used by the company Gemesis were developed by the Soviets and used during the Cold War. After the fall, the machines, which were treated as state secrets before, were wholesale sold off to anyone. DeBeers tried to prevent this and thought that the machines would "disappear." The founder of Gemesis heard about the sale and managed to get several machines and further refined the technology to turn it into the cultured diamond company we see now. Gemesis specializes mainly in fancy colored stones. Apollo does more clear stones. They are considered leaders in the field but not the pioneers. That distinction goes to Takara, a Japanese company.

Hopefully the Japanese won't do to cultured diamonds what they did pearls! A strand of Mikimoto cultured, perfect pearls can cost as much, if not more, than natural pearls! LOL