It was formed in 1989 as part of Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika initiative to establish a joint venture between the Russian Academy of Sciences and Tairus Created Gems Co Ltd. of Bangkok, Thailand.

In the beginning, the team was led by the scientist and developer of the hydrothermal process, the late Alexander Lebedev, whose name was kept secret by the Soviet regime for many years, and Walter Barshai, who was appointed to be the Chairman of the Board of the Joint Venture Tairus.

Their objective was to grow and to supply emeralds, rubies, sapphires, alexandrite and other gems to the jewelry industry.

The driving force was late Academician Nikolai Dobretsov, former President of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

After many years of development, scientists at Tairus had succeeded to commercially grow emeralds in a laboratory environment that resemble in color and have gemological properties that “overlap natural emeralds from various localities, especially those of low alkali-bearing stones from Colombia” (The Journal of Gemmology, 2006, Vol.