Cart 0

A gem dealer's journal — Lapidary

A Gem Dealer’s Journal: Taking a Glimpse at Northern Jewellery with Rita - Livia Erikson

A Gem dealers journal Asia Lounges blog color creations Estonia Estonian Academy of Arts garnet gem gems gemstome Gemstone gift gold hand made jewellery interview jewellery jewelry Lapidary lotus gemology Natural Gems one of a kind Rita Livia - Erikson rough Simon Dussart Spinel tourmaline treatment Tucson

A Gem Dealer’s Journal: Taking a Glimpse at Northern Jewellery with Rita - Livia Erikson

Just like most girls, I always liked jewellery. But I found it extremely difficult to find jewellery from stores that I liked and would've wanted to wear. This is the main reason why I decided to go and study how to create jewellery myself. I just wanted to be able to do things that I'd like.

To me, jewellery is conceptual – it tells a story or speaks of a feeling, often even when it wasn't intended. People make assumptions about others based on how they interpret the adornments seen. It's one of the ways jewellery is never really silent, nor meaningless. I find it important that the person who's proudly wearing a piece of jewellery is the first one who should know about it. And not just how to take care of it.

Combining my passion, skills, and knowledge about gems and jewellery not just gives me the freedom to do what I love, but also the ability to understand that vast world on much deeper levels.

Read more →


A Gem Dealer's Journal: The Hunt for Pink August

A Gem dealers journal Asia Lounges Association Rugby Saphir Billie Hughes blog Color Line Madagascar color type gem gems gemstome Gemstone Lapidary lotus gemology madagascar origin Photography Polichromos rough ruby sapphire Simon Dussart treatment

A Gem Dealer's Journal: The Hunt for Pink August

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...

Read more →


A Gem Dealer’s Journal: Learning more about ethical rubies from Greenland with Hayley Henning

A gem dealer's journal Asia Lounges blog color type ethical mining ethics gem Gem Cutting gemological laboratory gems gemstome Gemstone greenland Greenland Ruby A/S Hayley Henning interview jewellery jewelry Lapidary lotus gemology Natural Gems origin rough ruby Simon Dussart treatment

A Gem Dealer’s Journal: Learning more about ethical rubies from Greenland with Hayley Henning

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!

Read more →


Interview with the most famous Field Gemologist to have roamed the Earth: Vincent Pardieu

A Gem dealers journal aigs Asia Lounges blog burma colombia color color type DANAT east africa garnet gem gemological laboratory gems gemstome Gemstone GIA interview Lapidary lotus gemology madagascar mahenge merelani Mozambique Natural Gems one of a kind origin rough ruby Simon Dussart Spinel SSEF tajikistan tanzania treatment Tsavorite Tucson vietnam Vincent Pardieu

Interview with the most famous Field Gemologist to have roamed the Earth: Vincent Pardieu

Hey Loungers,

Today we receive Vincent Pardieu, one of the most famous, if not the most famous field gemologist in activity. Vince has been working for AIGS, then Gübelin and rose to fame through his tenure at GIA as he started the Field Gemology department for the Bangkok chapter of the famous organisation.

Today, while providing independent services at “VP Consulting SPC”, he is affiliated to DANAT, the Bahrain based lab where he is building a reference collection. This endeavour allows him and his teams of cameramen and photographers to travel the world and go from mine to mine and further gemological knowledge worldwide.

Today, we’ll pick his brain about field gemology obviously, but also about his thoughts about the trade, the tendencies and of course about his favourite gems.

Without any further delays, we give you Vincent Pardieu!

Read more →


A Gem Dealer’s Journal: Discovering the Mysterious World of Jade with Legendary Gemologist Richard W. Hughes

A Gem dealers journal Asia Lounges Billie Hughes blog burma China color color type gem gemological laboratory gems gemstome Gemstone Hertian interview Jade jadeite Lapidary lotus gemology Natural Gems nephrite origin Photography Richard W Hughes rough ruby russia sapphire Simon Dussart treatment USA

A Gem Dealer’s Journal: Discovering the Mysterious World of Jade with Legendary Gemologist Richard W. Hughes

Hey Loungers,

Today we will dive into the peculiar and mysterious world of jade with legendary gemologist, and author of the ruby and sapphire Bible: Ruby and Sapphire: A Gemologist’s Guide, Lotus Gemology’s Richard W. Hughes.

With him we will explore his passion for this material and the world that surrounds it. We will try to understand the difference between the various type of jades, what they are used for or what different nations consider jade to be. Whether it is the famous Burmese jade or the sublime and delicate Chinese nephrite sculptures, we hope to learn about them all today.

Without any further delay, we interview one of the only “gweilo” (white foreigner) mainlanders ask to speak about jade: Richard Hughes.

Read more →