The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2018–2025
Courbet brought lab-grown diamonds to Place Vendôme — Chinese competition buried it
A Paris eco-jewelry brand backed by Chanel pioneered lab-grown diamonds in luxury. Chinese producers crashed the price; the court ordered liquidation.
Courbet · Chanel · 2025-05
What happened
Courbet was founded in 2018 by Manuel Mallen and Marie-Ann Wachtmeister with an ambitious premise: sell lab-grown diamonds and recycled gold — including gold recovered from old smartphones — as luxury jewelry from Paris's Place Vendôme. The brand positioned itself at the intersection of sustainability, innovation and high-end craftsmanship, and attracted backing from Chanel, which took a 13% stake by July 2023.
The strategy ran into a market reality the founders had not anticipated: Chinese producers flooded the lab-grown diamond market, crashing prices and eroding the premium that Courbet needed to sustain its luxury positioning. The brand's sustainability story could not differentiate it when the core product — a lab-grown diamond — became a commodity. Chanel exited the shareholder roster in July 2024 as financial difficulties mounted.
Courbet ceased payments on November 29, 2024, entered receivership on December 23, and filed for reorganization with the Paris Commercial Court on January 8, 2025. Three potential buyers — a Qatari businessman, an Indian diamond group's Belgian subsidiary, and a French finance firm — submitted offers, but none convinced the court. On May 20, 2025, the commercial court ordered compulsory liquidation.
Why it happened
- Courbet bet that lab-grown diamonds could command luxury prices, but Chinese production capacity turned the stone into a commodity faster than the brand could build its premium.
- The sustainability narrative — recycled gold, eco-diamonds — was a differentiator in 2018 but became table stakes as every competitor adopted similar messaging.
- Chanel's 13% stake lent credibility but not the distribution or retail muscle needed to sustain a niche luxury brand through a price collapse.
- Three acquisition offers failed to satisfy the court, suggesting the business model was not viable at any price the buyers were willing to pay.
The lesson
A luxury brand built on a novel input is vulnerable the moment that input becomes a commodity. If the product cannot hold a premium, the story around it cannot save the margin.
Aftermath
The Paris Commercial Court ordered compulsory liquidation on May 20, 2025. Three acquisition offers were rejected. Courbet's Place Vendôme address, once a statement that lab-grown diamonds belonged in luxury, became a case study in why they did not — at least not at that price point.
Sources
- 华丽志 Luxe.co — Courbet bankruptcy liquidation (2025)
- Luxus Plus — Synthetic diamonds: Courbet goes into liquidation (2025)
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