(jenniferheebner.com) - It was 2007 when Laurent Cartier the student was backpacking through Sierra Leone and heard about the diamond divers of the Sewa River. While not specifically interested in diamonds at that time—he was getting his master’s degree in Geological and Earth Sciences from the University of Basel, Switzerland—his curiosity was piqued. He stayed in touch with new friends who knew of the diamond divers of the Sewa River and in April 2019 returned to the country once ravaged by civil war. By this time, Cartier had earned his doctorate in Philosophy and Geosciences and a Fellowship of Gem-A gemology diploma, as well as firmly establishing himself in the international gemology community as a project manager for the Swiss Gemological Institute, or SSEF. Cartier returned to Sierra Leone with a South African photographer named Justin Badenhorst and a goal: to film these artisanal diamond divers and share their story—a human side to the diamond industry.
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