where do diamonds come from?

Diamonds have a reputation. They’re associated with romance, commitment, luxury, and “forever”. They’re given at some of the most important moments in people’s lives. They’re carefully chosen, insured, treasured, and passed down. But what many people don’t realise is that long before a diamond ever sits in a ring, it’s already lived an extraordinary life because natural diamonds don’t start in jewellery shops, they start deep inside the Earth.

Most natural diamonds were formed between 1 and 3 billion years ago, around 150 kilometres beneath the planet’s surface. Down there, temperatures reach over 1,000°C and pressure is so intense that carbon atoms are forced into a crystal structure and that structure is a diamond.

In other words: diamonds are made when ordinary carbon is pushed to its absolute limits.

Over millions of years, volcanic eruptions carried these crystals closer to the surface through special rock formations called kimberlite pipes. Without these eruptions, diamonds would still be buried far below our feet.

We would never see them but eventually, erosion, mining, and careful sorting bring them into human hands. Only a tiny percentage of diamonds ever make it from deep Earth to jewellery. Most never leave the ground and that’s part of what makes them special.

Many of the diamonds we use today are older than:

• Dinosaurs

• Mountains

• Oceans as we know them

• Humanity itself

They existed long before the first humans walked upright. When you hold a natural diamond, you’re holding something that formed before history began.

Some form in the Earth’s mantle. Others come from even deeper, near the planet’s core. Some contain tiny mineral “fingerprints” that tell scientists exactly where and how they were formed. Each one carries a geological story inside it.

In recent years, lab-grown diamonds have also become more common. These are created using high pressure and heat to mimic natural conditions. They’re chemically identical to mined diamonds, but formed in weeks instead of billions of years.

Both options have their place, and I always talk clients through what feels right for them because origin matters and so does ethics and budget. So does personal meaning.

A diamond isn’t just about sparkle. It’s about what feels right for the person wearing it. For me, understanding where diamonds come from changes how I see them.

They’re not just “stones”. They’re survivors of immense heat and pressure. Witnesses to deep time and materials shaped by forces far beyond human control.

And somehow, they end up becoming symbols of love. They’re chosen to mark beginnings. Proposals. Marriages. Anniversaries. Promises.

Something that formed under unimaginable pressure becomes a sign of commitment and resilience and I think that’s beautiful.

When I set a diamond into a ring at my bench in Brighton, I often think about that journey. From deep inside the Earth, through billions of years, across continents, into my hands and finally onto someone’s finger.

A tiny piece of deep time, made wearable.