Diamonds are forever - even if they're fake

Lots of people in Hong Kong sell fake stuff, but Scott Thompson's goods are legitimately faux. He is one of the minds behind Carat, a real Hong Kong success story. They create fantastic jewellery that looks as fabulous and bling as real diamonds but at a fraction of the cost.

The label is throwing a party for its new collection tonight at Sugar. In three years it's made high-fashion simulated diamonds as popular as the real thing.

'A few nights ago, a friend was wearing one of our 60-carat pearl cut pieces and a diamond connoisseur actually asked if it was real,' Mr Thompson (below) recalls. 'If people ask questions like that, then we've done our job. I love diamonds but I understand they're not very affordable. What we're doing is giving people options. I think Hong Kong has reached a level where people appreciate jewellery for what it is.

'We're trying to move beyond the issue of what's real and not real,' he says.

'It's OK now to wear beautiful fashion jewellery. If it looks like a diamond even though it's not, so be it.'