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A Century of Craft, Reborn Above Ground

When Sri Tibarumal Gupta arrived in Hyderabad around 1915–16, he was a land-owner’s son from Haryana who had traded the certainty of farming for the uncertainty of precious stones. It was, by most accounts, an unlikely bet. By 1920, he had founded what would become one of the city’s most enduring jewelry houses — one that would go on to dress the Nizam of Hyderabad himself in exquisitely crafted pieces.

More than a century later, that same family is making another unlikely bet: stepping away from mined diamonds entirely and building a new brand — Elevé Diamonds — on the foundation of lab grown stones.

The question worth asking is whether this is a contradiction or a continuation. After all, Tibarumal’s reputation was built on the quality of natural gemstones, the weight of gold, the precision of Nizami craftsmanship. What does it mean for a house like that to pivot to diamonds grown in a reactor?

The answer, it turns out, is less complicated than it sounds — and more interesting.

What the Tibarumal Name Actually Represents

To understand Elevé, you first have to understand what Tibarumal is and what it isn’t.

The brand is not simply a shop that sells jewelry. Over three generations, it became the kind of name that Hyderabad families trust with their most significant purchases — wedding sets, heirloom pieces, engagement rings. That trust was earned through consistency: consistent quality of gemstones, consistent craftsmanship, and consistent relationships with customers across decades.

The second generation, led by Ram Bharos Gupta, carried that identity through post-independence Hyderabad. The third, under Pankaj Gupta, introduced modern design sensibilities while holding firm to handcrafted production. Pankaj’s design aesthetic — shaped by Nizami motifs, classical Indian forms, and a sharp eye for contemporary wearability — became the creative backbone of the house. His influence now extends directly into Elevé’s collections.

So when Elevé describes itself as being built on a century of Tibarumal expertise, it isn’t marketing language. The artisans crafting Elevé’s settings trained within the Tibarumal tradition. The design direction comes from the same creative lineage. The fourth-generation leadership — Trishank Gupta alongside Prajay Maganlal — is extending that lineage rather than replacing it.

Why Lab Grown Diamonds, and Why Now

Lab grown diamonds are not a new technology, but their mainstream credibility in India is relatively recent. The process — primarily Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) — grows real diamonds in a controlled environment by replicating the conditions under which carbon crystallizes into diamond structure. The result is a stone that is chemically, physically, and optically identical to a mined diamond. Even trained gemologists cannot reliably distinguish between the two without specialized spectroscopic equipment.

The environmental case for lab grown diamonds is substantial. Studies suggest they generate 60–90% less CO₂ per carat compared to traditional earth mining, and water use is roughly 70–85% lower. The energy picture is more nuanced — lab production does consume electricity — but newer generations of CVD reactors are meaningfully more efficient than earlier models, and producers using renewable energy operate under a significantly lower carbon profile than conventional mining operations, which require extracting roughly 1,000 tonnes of earth per carat of diamond.

Beyond the environmental argument, there is a sourcing argument. Mined diamonds carry the historical weight of conflict zones, opaque supply chains, and community displacement. Lab grown diamonds sidestep these concerns by design — every stone is traceable to its production facility.

For a brand whose founding motto is “Trust is Our Tradition,” this traceability is not incidental. It fits.

Elevé’s diamonds are each IGI-certified — graded by the International Gemological Institute to the same standards applied to mined stones. Buyers receive documentation confirming the stone’s cut, clarity, colour, and carat weight, along with its lab grown origin. This is the same kind of verifiable assurance that Tibarumal built its reputation on, applied to a new category.

Tradition Without Compromise: How Elevé Bridges the Gap

The skepticism that some customers bring to lab grown diamonds tends to center on one concern: that something produced in a factory cannot carry the same meaning as something formed over billions of years underground. It’s an emotional argument more than a scientific one, and it’s worth taking seriously.

Elevé’s answer to this isn’t to dismiss the sentiment — it’s to redirect it. The diamond, in this framing, is the raw material. The meaning lives in the craft around it.

Every piece in Elevé’s catalog is handcrafted by artisans trained in Tibarumal’s lineage. No piece is mass-produced. The Charminar Collection, designed by Pankaj Gupta, draws directly from Hyderabad’s architectural heritage — translating the geometric grandeur of the Charminar into wearable forms. The Nizam line references royal motifs from the very court that once wore Tibarumal’s original creations. Victorian and Polki interpretations sit alongside coloured stone pieces, giving the range breadth without losing coherence.

This is where the continuity becomes legible. The diamond may come from above ground, but the hands shaping the setting, the eye selecting the design, and the quality standard applied at every stage — these are inherited, not invented.

For customers in Hyderabad considering a diamond engagement ring or a diamond necklace for a significant occasion, the practical difference is this: you get a stone that meets the same gemological standards as a mined diamond, set by artisans with generational training, at a price point that reflects the lower production cost of lab grown stones. The emotional weight is carried by the craft, the occasion, and the people involved — not by the geological age of the carbon.

Sustainability as an Inherited Value, Not a Marketing Trend

One thing that tends to get lost in discussions about lab grown diamonds is that sustainability, for brands like Elevé, isn’t a pivot toward trend-chasing. It’s a logical extension of values that were already present.

Tibarumal’s founding ethos — careful sourcing, quality over volume, long-term customer relationships — maps naturally onto a model that prioritizes ethical production. A jeweler who spent a century building trust through transparency doesn’t suddenly abandon that when the category changes; they apply the same standard to a new material.

Elevé has also extended its social responsibility beyond the product itself. A portion of proceeds supports initiatives including Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao and artisan welfare programs — a recognition that sustainability isn’t only environmental. The artisans who carry Tibarumal’s craft traditions forward are themselves part of what the brand is committed to sustaining.

The lab grown diamond market in India is growing quickly. Titan entered the category in late 2025, and analysts expect lab grown stones to cross 30% of global diamond market share in the coming years. Elevé, backed by over 100 years of Tibarumal’s credibility and already operating stores in Kokapet, Kompally, and Warangal, is positioned to grow with that category rather than chase it.

For buyers in Hyderabad who want diamonds they can feel good about — stones that are real, certified, ethically sourced, and crafted with genuine skill — Elevé’s lab grown diamond jewelry offers something that most newer entrants to the category simply cannot: a heritage that was already earned before the brand launched.

That’s probably the most honest way to describe what Elevé Diamonds is doing. It isn’t reinventing tradition. It’s asking what tradition looks like when the materials change but the values don’t.