‘‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.’’

When Marilyn Monroe first sang this classic in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, we’re pretty sure the idea of wearing a lab-grown diamond would have never crossed her mind. And why would it? After all, the first artificial diamond was only announced in 1955, two years after the iconic movie was released.

Fast forward to the present day and we can’t even think of diamonds without both the natural and synthetic types coming to mind, especially when high profile celebrities like Meghan Markle are spotted wearing the latter.

What are man-made diamonds?

Last year, the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day looked a little different. Twelve hours of live streaming music, hopeful messages, plant-based recipe ideas, and art from a network of street artists. As the onset of COVID-19 clamped down on mass gathering, climate activists are finding creative ways to stay involved and get their message out. From holding digital strikes to tweeting up a storm, digital platforms have shaped a new era of climate activism.

The climate activism space was originally dominated by large organizations such as Sierra Club and Nature Conservancy. …

Now we’ve trudged into the second month of the new year, we’re hoping most of us have kicked off our new year’s resolutions after some procrastination. Our team’s resolutions look something like this: Read more, go to the gym, save money, bring down screen-time, learn a new language.

The post-2020 list is probably longer than usual, with pandemic productivity pressure making us think we need to come up with a multi-million-dollar idea for yesterday. Still, there is one goal that year after year leads our priorities: drinking more water.

But water is (and we apologise for this, dear Mother Earth)…

What is the Ugly Food Movement?

In Britain, they call it “wonky,” in America, “misshapen” or “misfit.’. Either way, the “ugly food” fever is a very welcome trend emerging amid (and despite) social media’s beauty standards.

In the UK, 4.5 million tons of fresh fruit and vegetables are thrown away every year because of their appearance — perfectly edible, nutritious food that will never reach grocery shelves because it is considered deformed and bad-looking.

The United Nations has designated 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, in an attempt to encourage sustainable production and reduce waste. One of the many side effects of the…

We ended 2020 doing what we love: learning. Our annual team retreat — aka Quilt University — was a week of Harvard-style business simulations and training to upskill and expand our understanding of the world. We had guest speakers from different industries talking to us on a range of topics — from fashion-tech to finance — and one of our favorite sessions was about responsible brands.

A decade ago, the primary considerations while buying personal care products used to be their functional value, price, and (sometimes) packaging. Today, consumers also seek natural ingredients, eco-friendly packaging, no animal testing, low-carbon footprint…

The fitness industry in the United States has seen an escalated level of interest in the restorative fitness segment over the past decade, namely in the yoga-pilates-barre trio. A couple of us in the Quilt.AI team are fans of this trio of workouts as well.

The incredibly varied health benefits that are attached to the strength building and stress release of these workouts, along with the rising importance of mental health over the pandemic has made this segment all the more attractive to gym-goers.

And, as for why we’re calling this trio the Comfort Fitness trio: these workouts are calmer…

Philanthropy has existed in every culture for centuries, but the global foundation sector has grown rapidly in the last few years. Some of the reasons include: global economic growth and the enormous increase in private wealth accumulation; persistent economic and social inequalities; and governmental and private efforts to encourage and support philanthropic institutions and giving.

However, with this growth comes a power imbalance, that has become more apparent during COVID-19. A majority of large foundations are in the Global North, and provide funds to social purpose organizations (SPOs) in the Global South. …

This time last month we were binge-watching Bridgerton. Some of us finished all eight episodes in one night, while others spaced it out over a week.

The Netflix series, based on Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton novels, has been watched by over 82 million households since its release on 25th December 2020. Created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes, it’s best described as Pride and Prejudice meets Gossip Girl and is Netflix’s most-watched original series debut to date. It has ranked #1 in 76 countries and features in Netflix’s Top 10 list in every country except Japan.

Examining consumer…