The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 1979–2026
Purely Diamonds sold handcrafted rings for 47 years — lab-grown diamonds ended it
Purely Diamonds kept its 47-year-old business built on natural stones as their price halved. It entered administration in April 2026.
Purely Diamonds · Stephen Tyler · 2026-04-29
What happened
Stephen Tyler Ltd was founded in 1979 as a manufacturing jeweller, trading as Purely Diamonds from showrooms in London and Manchester. The business built its reputation on handcrafted diamond rings made in-house and sold direct to consumers, a model that had held for nearly five decades without needing to change what it sold.
That model depended on the price of natural diamonds holding up. It did not. Natural diamond prices fell by more than 50% since 2022, as lab-grown diamonds — chemically identical, far cheaper to produce — took a growing share of demand. Purely Diamonds kept selling the stone whose price was collapsing rather than shifting its inventory toward the alternative buyers increasingly wanted.
On 29 April 2026, Jeffrey Brenner and James Stares of Antony Batty & Company were appointed joint administrators. The firm is exploring restructuring options, including a sale of the business and its assets, and continues to trade under administration.
Why it happened
- The core product's underlying commodity lost more than half its value in four years, and the business had no lab-grown range to absorb buyers shifting toward the cheaper alternative.
- Its manufacturing model was built for one category, leaving in-house production tuned to natural stones rather than the sourcing lab-grown diamonds require.
- Margins across the sector tightened as buying behaviour moved toward lab-grown, and a business with no second product line had nowhere to shift volume.
The lesson
Selling a commodity is a bet that its price holds. When a cheaper substitute halves that price, staying with the original is not craft — it is missing that the market moved.
Aftermath
The company remains in administration as of the entry's writing. Administrators are exploring a sale of the business and its assets rather than liquidation, with trading continuing in the meantime.
Sources
- Insolvency Insider — Purely Diamonds enters administration after four decades in UK jewellery market
- Antony Batty & Company — Company Administration: Purely Diamonds
- The Gazette — insolvency notice 5122527
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