A gem dealer's journal — Billie Hughes

Hey Loungers, Today we are proud to receive Mr. Olivier Segura on behalf of L’Ecole – School of Jewelry Arts. We interview him as our friend Lotus Gemology’s E.Billie Hughes gave a series of very successful presentation about gemological inclusions named after their latest book: Inside Out with Olivier himself, in Paris on March 12th 2020 and followed closely by an exhibition : “Discover the Gemstones – Ruby&Sapphire” curated by Billie and Olivier, still on going as we write these lines (September 17th) in L'École Asia Pacifique in Hong Kong. Olivier is a seasoned gemologist that has directed the French Gemmological Laboratory...

Hey Loungers, Today we have the pleasure of concluding the Microteers Arc by interviewing the Light Bender and third Microteer: GIA’s Nathan Renfro! Nathan is a talented and outspoken gemmologist, excellent photographer of course, one of the three legendary Microteers and disciple of the Titan: John Koivula himself! Today we have the opportunity to learn more about Nathan with this interview! Nathan, the floor is yours!   AsiaLounges: First of all thank you very much for agreeing to being with us today Nathan. Can you tell us more about yourself? Who are you Nathan Renfro? Nathan Renfro: Well, I am...

Hey Loungers, By now we have all heard of the legendary Lotus Gemology team. We all know via papers and interviews, the ruby & sapphire colossus, Richard W. Hughes, and his equally talented daughter, E. Billie Hughes. Yet little is known about the missing link in that trinity. Wimon Manorotkul is not only a talented gemmologist in her own right, and a skilled photographer to boot, But she is arguably the person that brought the other two members of her family to the world of gems. You read that right, she is the one who enrolled Richard for his first...

Hey Loungers, Today we have the pleasure of restarting an arc that we began a few years ago with E.Billie Hughes. Today, we are blessed with the presence of the Space Enchanter: Danny Sanchez! We discovered Danny’s work a few years back as we were discussing photomicrography with some of his peers here in Bangkok. Since then, we have had the pleasure of purchasing a few of his shots and finally met him before the COVID folie really kicked in on a world-wide basis at Tucson 2020. Today, we are given the opportunity to discuss his path, his art and...

Hey Loungers,  Today we propose you a bit of a special episode of A Gem Dealer's Journal, as we will be discussing our latest trip to Madagascar. While the Hunt for Red October was already taken by Tom Clancy, we decided to go after Pink August which was conveniently more readily available in the area of Ilakaka.  For those of you that would like to learn more about Ilakaka and its surrounding we propose you to follow this link to an article by Vincent Pardieu while he was at the GIA Bangkok: read now.   Our merry group upon arrival...