The cubic zirconia is a fascinating story about ingenuity and resourcefulness. For in our quest to simulate the almighty diamond, a new jewel of stunning beauty was discovered. Inexpensive, but loaded with attitude, the cubic zirconia is a synthetic gemstone that exudes brilliance and incomparable fire. The marvelous cz has revolutionized the costume jewelry industry, and made it possible for everyone to own dramatically beautiful jewelry.


Get the ‘look’ of expensive diamond jewelry for a mere fraction of the price with cubic zirconia. This exquisite diamond 'look-alike' is truly an affordable alternative. With its flawless perfection and brilliant fire (flashes of rainbow color), a top quality cz is virtually impossible to tell apart from a good quality diamond. So optically close is cubic zirconia to diamond, that even many gemologists and jewelers have difficulty differentiating between the two, without the use of instruments such as the loupe or a microscope.

In fact, the cubic zicronia’s impeccable, flawless beauty is one big difference between it, and a diamond. Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but they are fraught with imperfections—flaws such as inclusions and impurities are characteristic. Because cubic zirconia is grown in a laboratory-controlled environment, the resulting crystal must be absolutely perfect in clarity, otherwise it is not used. Cubic zirconia is most certainly a jewel in its own right, possessing more than enough beauty and style to proudly rest on its own laurels in the world of jewelry.

The History of Cubic Zirconia
The cz story began back in 1937 when two German mineralogists, Von Stackelberg and Chudoba, discovered naturally occurring zirconium oxide in a highly metamict zircon. Only through x-ray defraction were they able to see tiny crystals of the cubic form of zirconium oxide. The two mineralogists were not impressed, and never even named the finding, which is why cubic zirconia still carries its scientific name. They grossly underestimated the rarity of their find. Cubic zirconia has never ever been discovered again in its naturally occurring state.

The Creation of Cubic Zirconia
Thankfully for us cz fans, Soviet scientists learned how to grow cubic zirconia in a laboratory in the 1970's. Jewelry designers were very excited about this new kid on the block, and by the 1980’s, when the renowned Austrian producer of leaded crystal, Swarovski, began producing jewelry made with cubic zirconia, cz's defined 'hot'. The rest is history, and today cubic zirconia are beautifully worked into all kinds of fine jewelry.

The creation of cubic zirconia is as dramatic, exciting, and artful as technology gets! Baddeleyite, a mineral with the same chemical composition as cz, but in the monoclinic crystal system, is heated to almost 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Under these extreme temperatures, conventional melting vessels or crucible, do not withstand the heat and a ‘skull crucible’ system is employed whereby the melting zirconia powder actually creates its own melting vessel during its manufacture. This ‘skull crucible’ is an apparatus rather like a cup-shaped circle of copper fingers filled with water and kept cool by internal plumbing. As the zirconia melts, it leaves a thin shell that remains solid, due to the cooling effect of the copper fingers. During this shell-making process, the zirconia and stabilizing oxide is added to the ‘skull’ to the desired level. The contents are then kept molten for several hours to ensure uniformity of the crystals.

This wonderful predestined meeting of science and art gives birth to the clear perfect crystals that are cubic zirconia, the ultimate diamond simulant. Multi-colored oxides are then added to create cubic zirconia in a glorious kaleidoscope of colors from subtle to bold—the varying hues of chartreuse, canary, purple, cognac, peach, amber, red, lavender, green, and blue elegantly capturing the essence of emerald, aquamarine, sapphire, ruby, amethyst, and other precious gemstones—making cz's the perfect fashion statement. For some perfect examples, check out the glamorous cubic zirconia jewelry at The Hollywood Collection.