Our mission and core values
We created Woodeex to bring in a new way of purchasing diamonds, while addressing the challenges of transparency and traceability.
These two core values, along with sustainability and ethics, are no longer just trends on the horizon but the reality of major considerations when buying diamonds.
While no one can claim to be perfect in this area, and with a long way still to go, we have focused all of our efforts on being consistent with our values and your expectations. From the beginning, we have, at the heart of our concerns, placed the importance of making this market more transparent to the consumer, both in terms of information and provenance, as well as with the quality and price.
When buying a diamond from Woodeex, our customer knows that it has been obtained in compliance with the strictest standards, in terms of quality, but also transparency, traceability and ethics.
On a daily basis, we pursue our mission:
- Opening to the diamond market, which is usually closed to non-professionals
- Direct contact with our diamond suppliers and their actual daily-updated inventories
- Transparency of prices through a very detailed product sheet
- Access to information through our guides, advices and articles
- Personalized support and advice from diamond experts
The journey of a Woodeex diamond, from the source to the box
Once a Woodeex diamond is out of the ground, it undergoes a fabulous journey around the world, from the expert hands of a diamond cutter, to the diamantaires of the world's diamond exchanges, to you.
Our diamonds begin their incredible story as rough stones, mined from the ground in countries such as Australia, Botswana, Canada, Namibia, Russia and South Africa. All rough diamonds come directly from known mines and sources operated by one of the three largest diamond mining groups, De Beers, Rio Tinto and Alrosa.
From their homeland, they travel a long way through the following stages:
- The diamond manufacturer buys the rough diamonds from the mining groups.
- The diamond is thereafter polished in one of his diamond-cutting factories and, then, transport them to its offices.
- As soon as an order is placed on Woodeex.com, the diamond manufacturer submits the diamond to us for inspection.
- We deliver the order to our customer.
Why is the traceability of your diamond important?
Knowing the source of a diamond allows us to
obtain the guarantee of an ethical supply and that it is a natural stone and not a synthetic one, which has been manufactured in a laboratory.
The source of a diamond tells us a lot about the history it carries. Regardless of whether it comes from Canada, Russia, South Africa, Botswana, Australia, or from a family heritage linked to one of these
countries, our diamond will unveil its entire splendor in its box. It brings back memories, symbolizes an event or a particular attachment that one may have for one of these destinations.
Our ethical diamonds
Through certain measures like the Kimberley Process, which allows for the traceability of diamonds directly from mine to supplier, the diamond industry, in partnership with the United Nations, governments and non-governmental organizations, verifies all diamond exports to prevent the trade of illegal diamonds.
Indeed, in 2003, the diamond industry established a process to prevent the flow of diamonds which ensued from violence and conflicts. This initiative, called the Kimberley Process, aims to trace every diamond, thus preventing the trade of illegal diamonds.
At Woodeex, all diamantaires present on our platform adhere to the Kimberley Process and the "System of Warranties" which commits them to sourcing diamonds from legitimate sources. As a result, every diamond we sell is certified conflict free.
Meet our sellers diamantaires
Woodeex guidelines go far beyond industry standards. In fact, on our platform, we provide visibility and transparency on our supply chain, which is represented by the diamond suppliers and vendors with whom we have established long-term and sustainable partnerships.
On the Woodeex platform, we have exclusively selected, as suppliers/sellers, diamantaires who are members of diamond exchanges and who are subject to the standards and ethical norms of the diamond industry.
We provide our customers with maximum security by carrying out a strict control for each new supplier registration request on our platform.
The process of identifying and verifying the identity of our suppliers includes a series of rigorous checks.
This procedure consists of verifying that each member is a diamond professional in possession of a recognized license and that he/she practices within one of the world’s diamond exchanges.
By the way, what is a diamantaire?
The diamantaire is at the most upstream of the value chain of the polished diamond industry sourcing directly from the major mining groups. He supplies all the players in the trade, from wholesalers to retail jewelers. The diamantaire is a trader unlike the stone cutter, also called lapidary, who is a craftsman. The experience and know-how of diamantaire are found more in his/her knowledge and expertise of diamonds. As a trained expert gemologist, he/she is qualified to evaluate a diamond and set its price according to a rigorous expertise.
The next step
Ensuring 100% traceability!!! Our goal is to trace each diamond back to its source by identifying every step from its mining right down to you. We will continue to work closely with our partners to make this goal a reality.
