Diamonds are forever, and apparently so is dying now… Algordanza is a Swiss startup company that’s reinventing the wheel when it comes to memorial keepsakes made from the ashes of deceased loved ones.
The company uses cremated human remains to create memorial diamonds that can be worn conveniently wherever you go.
As it stands, diamonds are simply pressurized carbon atoms that are baked then squeezed from underneath earth’s mantle using extreme pressure and heat.
Human bodies are around 20 percent carbon which allows Rinaldo Willy, founder of Algordanza, to use a unique process that grows synthetic diamonds.
Although the service appears geared towards the upper classes, Willy claims a “diamond burial” could be less costly than traditional options, particularly with the growing premium on real estate (both for the living and the dead.)
According to Algordanza, the process works like this, “During cremation, the majority of carbon escapes as carbon dioxide. In the ashes remain 1-5% of carbon.
In our laboratory we are able to isolate this carbon from all other substances. This isolated carbon is the foundation for the diamond growth following the example set by nature.
The carbon solely from the remains of your loved one converts under high pressure and high temperature to graphite.
The purified graphite is the foundation for the subsequent diamond transformation inside our own HPHT (High Pressure – High Temperature) machines.
A diamond starter crystal within the growth cell triggers the growth of the Memorial Diamond. It is melted into a metal alloy and does not conjoin with the carbon isolated from the cremation ashes.
More diamond crystals slowly crystalize on the surface of the starter crystal.
The growth process takes weeks – depending on the desired size of the Memorial Diamond.
The starter crystal is then removed from the surface of the rough diamond.”
