Lab Grown Diamond Brand Shortlisted for UK New Brand of the Year Award
Can a lab grown diamond brand that has been in the UK market for less than a year gain a foothold in the highly competitive traditional jewelry market?
Smiling Rocks has provided the answer: it has been shortlisted for one of the most prestigious awards in the UK jewelry industry.\
In April 2026, Smiling Rocks, a New York-based lab-grown diamond jewelry brand, was shortlisted for the Emerging Brand of the Year award at the 2026 Retail Jeweller Awards. The awards ceremony will take place on July 8, 2026.
In August 2025, Smiling Rocks officially entered the UK market. Within just six months, the brand was invited to become an approved supplier of the Company of Master Jewellers (CMJ).
The CMJ is one of the most influential procurement organizations in the UK jewelry industry; the fact that the brand was promoted from guest supplier to approved supplier at its autumn trade fair is in itself a testament to the brand’s recognition within the industry.
Stewart Arvan is responsible for Smiling Rocks’ expansion into the UK market. With over 15 years of experience in the jewelry industry, he has established extensive partnerships with independent retailers across the UK.
Under his leadership, the brand has begun supplying independent jewelry retailers in the UK, including members of the Houlden Group. (Note: The Houlden Group is a leading independent retailer buying group in the UK, whose members are all influential independent jewelers in the industry.)
Smiling Rocks’ rapid rise in the UK market is closely tied to the overall growth of the lab-grown diamond sector.
In recent years, lab-grown diamonds have taken on an increasingly important role in the global jewelry market, gradually becoming the new choice for young consumers and retailers committed to sustainability.
As a major jewelry consumer market in Europe, the UK is seeing a rapid rise in acceptance of lab-grown diamonds.
Smiling Rocks chose to enter the UK market in the second half of 2025, coinciding with a window of opportunity for the accelerated expansion of lab-grown diamonds in UK retail channels.
The brand targeted independent retailers as its entry point and rapidly built a distribution network through endorsements from industry organizations such as CMJ; this strategy has clearly paid off.
The Retail Jeweller Awards are among the oldest and most prestigious awards in the UK jewelry industry.
Each year, the awards cover multiple categories—from retailers and brands to designers—honoring industry participants who have demonstrated outstanding performance over the past year.
The “Emerging Brand of the Year Award” specifically recognizes emerging brands that have achieved remarkable success in a short period of time.
Being nominated for this award signifies that a lab-grown diamond brand has earned the industry’s recognition for its products, marketing strategies, and channel expansion.
About Smiling Rocks
Smiling Rocks is a lab-grown diamond jewelry brand founded in New York around 2019 by brothers Zulu Ghevriya and Manish Jiwani.
As a member of the Responsible Jewelers Council (RJC), the brand’s core feature is its philanthropic business model, which donates 10% of its B2C revenue to four key areas: education, environmental protection, healthcare, and animal welfare. The brand claims to have planted 145,620 trees and removed 23,000 pounds of marine debris to date, and has earned certifications such as the Butterfly Mark.
