Fabio D'Amico, CEO of Milan-based Gemological Education Certification Institute (GECI) told about the work performed by his Institute and in particular about the services it offers in his interview to Rough&Polished.
When was GECI created?
GECI, the Gemological Education & Certification Institute, was created about two years ago with the aim of creating a new gateway to the world of gemology, with a laboratory furnished with state-of-the-art gemological equipment - leader in innovation - and an education plan based on research, international standards and advanced technologies.
What services do you provide?
GECI offers multiple services that aim to meet the needs of every customer, both tradespeople and privates.
Our Laboratory offers a complete service of identification and classification of diamonds, colored stones, pearls and jewelry. The reports are in English and are internationally applicable and recognized.
It is important to underline the fact that for every diamond we receive in our lab we perform controls considering its natural/synthetic origin and for the presence of possible treatments. Besides its strength on diamond grading, GECI specializes on gemstone origin, especially on rubies, sapphires, emeralds and tourmalines; GECI is also adequately equipped to identify natural vs. cultured pearls. The GECI report issuing process is fully controlled thanks to the LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System) software. The clients can easily check their Report in real time through the check report service available on our website.
Our Educational proposal is defined by its integrity and professionalism in teaching because it aims to prepare the future professionals of the jewelry industry in Italy and the world. With the goal of spreading the gemological knowledge and culture through a complete teaching method, GECI offers various models of education that can satisfy a variety of requirements. Let me spend few words about our "Master in Gem and Jewelry Management". This Master prepares every student for a successful and rewarding career in the gems and jewelry industry. Each student will have the once in a lifetime opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge needed to meet the future challenges of the market. Ethics and gems origin, traceability and identification of synthetics and treatments, design, sketching and marketing, are just some of the topics that will provide every student with a solid cognitive background.
How many stones do you get on a daily basis for examination?
The GECI laboratory gets more than 2000 gems per month, more than 24.000 gemstones a year. More or less, diamonds represent the 80% of this total. We are very proud of this statistic considering that we started the operations relatively recently. Although the Institute itself counts only a few years of life, the combined experience of its staff adds up to more than 100 years of hand-on work with gemological research, gemstone analysis and teaching.
What is the cost of services for diamond grading? How long on average does it take to classify a precious stone?
The cost of a report varies widely depending on the weight of the diamond and its characteristics: if it falls within the D-Z Color Scale it has a certain cost, if it is a Fancy Color it has another cost. But I would like to repeat the fact that the analysis to determine if the diamond is natural, synthetic or treated is standard and included in this cost.
Considering the colored gemstones, the cost varies depending on the weight and on the work required. For example, if determination of geological and geographic origin is required the cost of the report changes.
The Lab Catalogue and the Lab price list are available for download on our website, www.geci-web.com. I wish to emphasize that special formulas for discounts are available for sector operators.
Furthermore, every Report can be issued according to three different types of procedures: Standard (in 4/5 days), Express (in 8 hours) and One Day Shot (in 4 hours).
Are there any educational courses at GECI?
GECI offers various models of education, each one supported by the experience of its instructors and enriched by laboratory research on a daily basis. The educational programs are developed based on latest innovations in the didactic field and the gemological research, supported by innovative technologies.
GECI proposes both Resident Courses, theoretical and practical courses held in the classroom at our premises and Distance Courses, lectures that the students can attend by accessing their personal web pages on the GECI website; Dedicated and Advanced Seminars, short-term modules focused on specific topics such as synthetic diamonds, ruby, sapphire, emerald, marketing and jewelry design and sketching; Corporate Programs on Demand and courses created, developed and tailored to the needs of each business.
In addition to those, GECI is about to launch the new Educational Calendar for 2015/2016 academic year, which will have a great new entry: as I said before, we are very proud to launch the "Master in Gem & Jewelry Management". This Master provides both technical and managerial skills in gemology, history, design and marketing with the aim to prepare future protagonists of the jewelry industry who want to pursue an international career. For this reason the course will be delivered in English, the worldwide language of the sector, and it will take place in our headquarters in Milan, the dynamic capital of design and the city hosting the 2015 EXPO (see attached press release).
How do you cooperate with other world diamond laboratories?
So far, the direct cooperation with other international diamond laboratories has included the participation of our head of research in the sector's yearly meetings. I am myself an active member in all the CIBJO gemological commissions.
What is your attitude to synthetic diamonds?
GECI is very prepared and careful to the new market challenges like new treatments and new synthesis techniques. In fact, the control for treatments and synthetic origin is incorporated in all our reports.
In this context, GECI held a conference in partnership with Fiera di Vicenza and CIBJO at the last September fair. Guest speakers included the Head of Physics at De Beers Research Centre, Philip Martineau and Dr. Andrei Katrusha, an expert in the field of lab-grown diamonds from St. Petersburg, Russia.
Our Education Department offers Advanced Seminars focused on synthetic diamonds in order to update gemologists to the new HPHT, CVD and NPD synthesis techniques.
What do you think about the practice of overgrading?
Since start, we have been very keen on becoming a CIBJO member in order to fully support ethics and social responsibility for the protection of the end consumers and their trust in our industry. GECI is very careful about the risk of overgrading, and in order to avoid any kind of overgrading we equipped our laboratory with LIMS, a special software, and for the highest level of accuracy of diamond color grading we are using a set of master stones certified and recognized by the International System of Diamond Grading and CIBJO.
GECI is a young institute in terms of activity, but has a large and ambitious goal, to be number one in the world and remain a global player as a reference point for the global market. To achieve this objective we founded our Institute on severe pillars: Professionalism, Knowledge, Honesty and Ethics. We recognize ourselves in these values and we do not allow neither overgrading nor undergrading, nothing but correct grading.
Alex Shishlo, Editor in Chief of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished
