A gem dealer's journal — blog

Hey Loungers,

As you may have noticed in our recent interviews, the question of ethics and transparency in the gem trade is a bit of a recurring issue of late.

Today, we are lucky enough to have with us Hayley Henning from the Greenland Ruby A/S and we will be discussing just this: Ethics in the gem mining industry.

Greenland Ruby A/S is the only large scale gem mining company to operate under the European Union laws to my knowledge and perhaps the only ruby mine in the world that can claim to stand on ethical grounds.

Back to Hayley though, she has been working for various of the most iconic mining operations in the last twenty years among which the now known as Tanza One that she helmed for little under a decade!

Without any further delays we give you, Hayley Henning!

Hey Loungers,

We like to say that nothing makes a gem shine quite as much as when it is adorning a lady’s finger. But what if, the very person designing the jewelry was one of the most prized jeweler currently in activity and a lady to boot? Wouldn’t that bring an extra touch of femininity?

Today we have the pleasure of receiving the acclaimed American jeweler: Erica Courtney!

Erica has been one of the most influential figures in the trade for decades now and is possibly the most iconic standard bearer for the female empowerment in our industry.

We will be looking forward to understanding what makes her brand special, where does her imagination come from and the world that comes before the creation process of her lovely pieces of jewelry.

Without any further delay, we give you, Erica Courtney!

Hey Loungers,

Wim Vertriest is the current Supervisor of GIA´s field gemology program in Bangkok, Thailand.

Today, we propose you an interview with Wim in hope to better understand what field gemology is all about and what the average day at Bangkok´s GIA office looks like as well as how and why is a gemological field expedition deployed.

With this in mind, we propose you to fasten your seat belt and to follow us as we interview Wim Vertriest. Wim, the floor is yours!

Hey Loungers,

Today we’ll be welcoming in our column for the first part of a twin interview Mr. Stewart Young.

Stewart has been working for some of the most famous auction houses in the world and has more recently been at the helm of the rise of Hong Kong’s fastest rising auction house: Tiancheng International.

Today, Stewart is at the helm of his very own high jewellery brand but that will be a story we’ll be discussing in part two of this interview so stay tuned to learn more about it.

Without any further delays we give today’s guest: Stewart Young!

Hey Loungers, 

Today we interview Nicholas Sturman, currently GIA’s senior manager of pearl identification globally who is based in Bangkok. Nick has over three decades of pearl identification under his belt and is here today to help us understand this very specialized part of the trade.

Our British friend worked on pearls for 16 years in Bahrain before joining us here, in the world gem capital, Bangkok, almost 11 years ago. 

Without any further delays we give you Nick Sturman,