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Global Chapter News and Notes
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Richard T. Liddicoat and Bob Earnest created the GIA Alumni Association 30 years ago to help grads stay connected.
The San Diego chapter hosted GIA’s own Indiana Jones gemstone hunter, Vincent Pardieu.
Dr. Laurent Massi, director of GIA Education in Bangkok, visited the Malaysia chapter. Yichen Ng, president of the chapter, and Pairach Nalinthrangkum, operations manager of GIA Bangkok, greeted him.
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Are you ready to celebrate? GIA has been around a lot longer, but 30 years ago this fall the GIA Alumni Association was created through the leadership of Richard T. Liddicoat and Bob Earnest. Both of these visionaries helped graduates stay connected for many years and understood the need to formalize an association of GIA alumni.
They made it happen, but thanks to all our alumni chapter leaders and active members (past and present) our GIA Alumni Association is what it is today — a global network of mentorship, education and opportunity.
Turning to the present and future, much has happened since our last Alum Connect report. Here are some global updates:
- Donna Baker hosted a gathering in Miami in April that drew more than 150 attendees. The group included alums from all over the U.S. attending the AGS Conclave, the leadership of our three Florida alumni chapters and alumni from the South Florida area.
- Alumni celebrations hosted by GIA during the Las Vegas trade fairs were a huge success, including our in-booth alumni hours and the GIA Alumni Cabana at JCK’s “Rock the Beach” party.
- The fourth Global Alumni Forum was held in late August with more than 40 alumni leaders and designated representatives from chapters around the world participating. This bi-annual opportunity gives chapter leaders an opportunity to directly connect with Donna Baker and one another.
- Special congratulations to all our alumni who successfully completed the G&G Challenge and were recognized for their achievement in the Fall issue.
Chapters Notes:
Chapters have been busy hosting education and networking events for their members. We’ve had a combined average of 17 events per month – across the globe – this year. We are excited by the introduction of new chapters and the re-launch of some inactive chapters:
- New: New England, Michigan, San Diego and Seattle have elected new leadership and/or have reactivated and are enthusiastically planning events
- In development: Brazil, Germany, the Philippines and Arizona
Recent chapter acvities:
- The Colorado – Mile High, Greater Chicago, Golden Gate, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohioand Seattle chapters coordinated their event calendars to bring speakers to their regions, including Gary Roskin, GIA GG, FGA, who presented “A Day with the Pinks and an Evening with the Blues” and Dr. Cigdem Lule and Stuart Robertson, of Gemworld International, who presented “Corundum Pricing and Treatment,” a full-day workshop.
- The San Diego chapter hosted a crowd of nearly 50 guests for a rare presentation with Vincent Pardieu, GIA’s own Indiana Jones, who was visiting Carlsbad for the first time from GIA’s Bangkok Lab.
- Israel alums were invited to a grand opening celebration of GIA’s new laboratory facility in Ramat Gan.
- The London chapter has hosted jewelry historians, museum curators, designers and is preparing for this month’s field trip, a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at Buckingham Palace that celebrates the Queen’s Jubilee. This spectacular retrospective will feature jewels worn by British monarchs over the last 200 years. (Alums from Egypt, the U.S., Switzerland andGermany plan to attend.)
- Malaysia hosted Dr. Laurent Massi, director of Education at the GIA Bangkok campus, in coordination with a trade show held in Kuala Lumpur. The chapter also plans to host an event in Penang soon to expand its membership reach.
- The Mexico chapter held a series of gem safaris to mining sites and pearl harvesting areas in the Sea of Cortez.
- New York’s Manhattan and Pennsylvania Delaware Valley chapters co-hosted Doug Hucker, president of AGTA (American Gem Trade Association).
- Shanghai hosted its first event in 2012 with great success. Chapter president Julius Zheng, GIA GG, hosted the event and spoke on “Diamond Pricing and Sourcing Tools, and the International Market Situation.”
- The Toronto chapter (Canada) received accolades from the city’s mayor that recognized the chapter for its continued public service and education.
Upcoming alumni events featuring GIA representatives include:
- The Africa chapter will host Tom Moses in Botswana in late September.
- Chicago’s “World of Gems Conference III,” featuring GIA’s Shane McClure and Brendan Lars, amongst other gemological notables, will be held in October. The Greater Chicagochapter will host two alumni events around the conference to make the most of the opportunity to connect with alumni visiting from around the globe.
- Hong Kong’s GIA Gemfest: Dr. Wuyi Wang, GIA director of Research and Development, will speak on the “Current Status of Synthetic Gem Quality Diamonds” on Sept. 19 and 22.
Thank you to all our chapter leaders and meeting attendees who stay updated on industry news and happenings via their chapters.
Keep up the good work!
Quick notes from GIA:
International Alumni Awards: GIA recently asked alums across the globe for nominations for the annual Alumni Awards. This is the opportunity for members (and GIA) to recognize fellow alumni for their outstanding achievement and leadership in the previous 12 months. Nominated and awarded by peers, the value of this acknowledgment cannot be denied.
Scholarships: GIA education opportunities are available for all! The application deadline is Oct. 31. Apply online, today. More than 100 scholarships are available, including On Campus, e-Learning Distance Education and lab classes.
Continuing Education: Just a reminder that there is still time to enroll in 2012’s program and earn your annual credential. The eighth and final lesson, featuring Shane McClure’s interview on “Lead-glass Filled Rubies,” was just released. Program access is available until Dec. 31, so there’s plenty of time to enroll and complete all of your lessons.
Facebook: Stay in touch with fellow grads on the GIA Alumni Facebook page. Check out all of the global chapter activities and events posted. Stay up to date and consider visiting another chapter when you travel.
Save the Date for Tucson: The annual Alumni Association dinner dance will be held Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. Save the date and visit the webpage for updates and more information in the coming months. Consider contributing an auction donation to support the Alumni Endowment Fund.
Contact alumni@gia.edu with any questions about alumni activities, chapters or benefits. – Kate Donovan
Manager, Alumni Relations
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Alums to Share Tips at Oct. 5 Career Fair
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Charlie Herner’s tip for Career Fair: Review the list of speakers and coaches beforehand. “Being able to get one-on-one feedback with these individuals is often sought after and having them available at the Career Fair is an amazing opportunity,” he said.
Jeff Mason’s tip for Career Fair: It only takes one opportunity to create an amazing career, so take advantage of the day. “There are companies hungry for talented and driven individuals,” Mason said. “Career Fair brings those companies and individuals together.”
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You might be on the road to success, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any GIA Career Fairs in your future.
Just ask Charlie Herner, GJ and AJA, and Jeff Mason, GG, AJA and AJP.
Herner is CAD/CAM director and a CAD modeler at Seattle-based Green Lake Jewelry Works, which was just named the No. 1 Coolest Store in America byInstore magazine. He said he was honored to be asked to be on the opening panel and is looking forward to sharing his career experiences with students.
“I am literally counting down the days,” he said. “It is always great to get to campus — and being surrounded by aspiring talent and established professionals makes it all the better.”
Mason, a gemologist and designer at Gold and Silver Pawn in Las Vegas (made famous by History’s “Pawn Stars”), received his first industry job offer at a Career Fair. He will participate in the Creative Careers panel and is looking forward to sharing the twists and turns his career has taken.
“I’m excited,” he said. “I love being able to share my passion and experience, and I’m eager to hear what other people have to say about this industry.”
CAD is Perfect Fit for 3-D Thinker
Herner grew up working with his hands in a construction family in rural Ohio. He explored several careers, including nursing, architecture and graphic design, before he settled on the gem and jewelry industry. He likes the sense of immediate gratification he gets from jewelry design.
“I can model two to five pieces in a day,” he said. “I’m working on something fresh and new in comparison to the long drawn-out planning and staging of architecture.”
Herner attended GIA in 2008 and 2009 and landed a job at the Casting House in Chicago shortly after he graduated.
“That’s where I got a lot of my chops,” he said. “It was wholesale manufacturing-style CAD modeling where I spent hours and hours and hours just doing model after model. That’s where I got my good, solid CAD base.”
Herner loves CAD design, calling it his “big comfort zone,” and says he even thinks in 3-D when he looks at things.
“CAD has just always been comfortable to me to just sit down and work,” he said. “I don’t really stress because I know you can never really damage anyone’s goods. It’s so easy to tweak something or fix it when it’s virtually based.”
He made the move to Green Lake Jewelry Works in early 2011 so he could get more experience in a retail environment and get back to work on a bench, which he loved as a student at GIA.
“I fell in love with the place,” he said, partly because of the talented people he gets to work with every day, such as classic filigree specilists, stone setters and other designers, and partly for the artistic freedom he enjoys.
“It’s not as hectic as wholesale. You get to work through a design instead of trying to push through it.”
Freedom to Make His Own Decisions
Mason, the sole gemologist on staff at Gold and Silver Pawn, is the third-generation of a rock family. He said his love and passion for gems came from being raised by parents who owned turquoise mines – though he didn’t realize it at the time.
“When I got in trouble in high school, I was sent to the tile saw to cut turquoise,” he said. “I must have cut 10,000 pounds of it.” He got so good, his parents began to pay him.
He studied geology in college, but soon realized he liked minerals best. His mom told him about GIA and encouraged him to change his plans. Mason attended GIA in 2007 and 2008 and went to work as a sales associate and appraiser after he graduated. He did that until he was hired at Gold and Silver Pawn in 2011, where he runs the jewelry side of the business.
“I see hundreds of pieces a day and go through every piece that ends up on the floor of the shop. I evaluate it for what I think it’s worth and decide an appropriate price for the store,” he said.
He’s re-done the cases and tried to make things more professional than a typical pawn shop, and has the opportunity to design his own pieces.
“If we get a broken piece of jewelry with diamonds in it, I can take those diamonds and make something profitable for us. I can buy wholesale gemstones, create my own piece and set them in something presentable.”
He said there are no boundaries to his job and what he can do with it.
“I never thought someone would give me this freedom,” he said. “The extensions of this industry and where it leads you are just frontier-less.”
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Designer Creates Custom Bridal, One-of-a-Kind Pieces
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Daria de Koning works on her design concepts. Her Fresh Air Fund pendant, with a “city to country” motif, helps raise funds to send city kids to summer camps in upstate New York. Photos provided by Daria de Koning
De Koning uses her success to pass along a love of jewelry in the workshops and classes she teaches to budding artists of all ages. She also gives lectures at schools and organizations around the country.
De Koning’s “Leaves” earrings are based on a design she saw in a thrift shop. The bottom layer of the leaves are rose gold and the top in yellow; the stones are morganite. The World Gold Council recently asked her to partner with them to help spread the word about gold, using her pieces as examples.
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Daria de Koning’s jewelry designs have been featured on the pages of some of the top U.S. fashion and bridal magazines, including Lucky, Town & Country, Bridesand O, The Oprah Magazine.
Edie Falco wore her one-of-a-kind reversible agate-drusey necklace to the premiere of her television show, “Nurse Jackie,” and has since borrowed more pieces through her stylist.
So how did the little girl with the “serious rock collection” and an obsession with gemstones and jewelry go about creating a dream career and a burgeoning name for herself?
She got an education, channeled her passion and focused on the things that truly inspire her.
De Koning began her journey studying art and graphic design at Washington University in St. Louis.
“I took my first metalsmithing class when I was 18 and I was completely hooked,” she said. “My senior thesis as a graphic designer was a ‘Fictional Jewelry Company’ under my name. I still use that logo and many elements of that project today.”
She interviewed as many people in the industry as she could; they stressed the importance of knowing what you are working with and pointed her in the direction of GIA in New York.
“I decided jewelry making was my calling and I wanted to learn more about stones to be well-rounded in my designs and work,” she said. “The GIA experience was challenging – especially the science and math components — but I was happy to be there. I really enjoyed the classes because I was sincerely interested in what I was learning. I’m really glad to have that background, especially given that quality is a core value of my work and of my brand.”
De Koning received her GG in 2003 and started to work for Italian jeweler Tito Pedrini, who had come in to give a little talk to her class. “He has been a wonderful mentor, and was very supportive of me when I was first starting out on my own,” she said.
She continued to hone her bench skills, largely by taking classes and workshops around the country that focused on specific techniques.
“I like to learn about every technique, as one never knows when and to what you’ll be able to apply it,” she said. “I am also self-taught; if it works, mechanically speaking, and is strong, then in my mind there is no right or wrong way to make a piece of jewelry.”
During the time she was working with Pedrini, friends and acquaintances asked for her help to design custom engagement rings. In 2005, at the age of 25, she decided to launch her own company.
“I figured that everyone would start getting engaged and there I would be, ready to help them out,” she said. “Little did I realize that most New Yorkers don’t marry until much later, so my first business plan didn’t initially pan out.”
A family friend offered to host a trunk show for her – even though she didn’t have any product yet – so she needed to quickly pull together some designs.
“Cue the start of my 18k yellow gold collection!” she said. “I prefer to use 18k yellow gold, but also enjoy experimenting in and mixing other metals to create a spectacular look.”
De Koning’s business is half custom engagement and bridal designs and half her custom collection designs, which she creates in her Tribeca (Manhattan) studio, located in an “artsy” building that is home to many different artists, including painters, photographers and other creative film and fashion types.
She said her designs are inspired by things she loves or the natural beauty of a gemstone.
“I’m not biased towards any particular gemstone. If it’s gorgeous and/or unusual and it speaks to me, I’ll try to use it somewhere,” she said. “A lot of the time I find a stone I’m inspired by that dictates an idea. Or it’s a shape I love (from architecture or nature) and I will have a stone cut to resemble it.”
De Koning’s website features stories about many of the one-of-a-kind pieces she creates, including a peacock feather that inspired a brooch and the earrings that remind her of jellyfish.
“I love to create. And I love when people love what I make,” she said. “I strive to design and build works of art that make one stand out in a crowd; jewelry that makes the wearer feel one of a kind. Each piece is crafted to become a stylish statement to be fearlessly worn and proudly displayed.”
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Kate Middleton Wears Alum’s Acorn Necklace
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Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, was spotted wearing this pendant at the Wimbledon finals. Photos provided by Kristin Magnusson
Kristin Magnusson is thrilled with the response to her necklace.
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Kristin Magnusson, GIA GJ and AJA, got the surprise of her life one evening when she checked the Wimbledon finals online. Right away, she noticed a photo of Kate Middleton at the event wearing a necklace she thought she recognized.
“As I looked a bit closer, it registered that it was my necklace,” she said. “I was pretty ecstatic and I think I got a little over excited.”
Who wouldn’t? The media can’t get enough of the new Duchess’ fashion choices and Magnusson’s design was immediately featured in several blogs, on two U.K. televisions shows and in web magazines.
“I was inundated with inquiries about the necklace (mainly from the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand) after it was featured in blogs such aswhatkatewore and thenonblonde, so had I to work on making necklaces and customers happy — rather than looking to get press,” she said. “Hopefully she’ll wear it again, and then I’ll be more prepared. But I think that is very wishful thinking!”
Magnusson, who lives in London, was a television producer for 12 years before deciding she wanted a career change. She attended GIA in Carlsbad and when she returned to London, opened a workshop where she designs in CAD and creates at her bench by hand.
“I love sitting by the bench creating things by hand,” she said. “And, even though I get nervous, I also love to see customers’ reactions when they come in to pick up their pieces. So far I’ve been lucky and everyone has been happy with what’s been delivered.”
We know at least one royal who has been.
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Alums Win White Metal Design Awards
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Charlie Herner: Platinum Love category. Photos provided by Johnson Matthey
Jason Dow: Palladium Expression category.
Edit Simon: Palladium Expression category.
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Three GIA grads were honored in the Johnson Matthey 2012 Sustainable Design Awards earlier this year, which was created to help designers create pieces made from platinum or palladium.
Charlie Herner, GJ, AJA, of Green Lake Jewelry Works in Seattle, won in the Platinum Love category, for his 78th & Cognac men’s band ring, which was inspired by architecture and features bead-set diamonds and textural contrasts created by stippling and sandblasting techniques.
Two GIA alum received recognition in the Palladium Expression category:
Jason Dow, of Jason Dow Jewelry in Honolulu, for his Mandala Cuff bracelet that features ancient eastern motifs created though casting, laser welding and back-set diamonds.
Edit Simon, GG and Comprehensive CAD CAM grad, of Edit Simon Jewelry in Vancouver, B.C., for her Petals ring, set with diamonds and a green-colored center stone that showcases the ability to create texture on palladium.
Each design was judged on creativity, wearability, innovation and manufacturability.
Each winner received a prize package worth more than $30,000, including one troy ounce of free platinum or palladium and $500 cash towards manufacturing the winning pieces. In addition, each designer received technical consultancy and free casting from Carrera Casting Corp.; a photo shoot with Rare Creative, a boutique photographic studio; a one-year artisan membership from MJSA; and online and showcase exposure from Platinum Guild International and Palladium Alliance International.
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