Articles and News
INDUSTRY NEWS: GIA IN BANGKOK AND HONG KONG, DEF NAMES FIRST BOTSWANA BENEFICIARY, MORE September 07, 2011 (0 comments)
GIA Announces New Bangkok Campus Location and Class Schedule
CARLSBAD, CA--GIA (Gemological Institute of America) has announced the new location of its education campus in Bangkok, Thailand, which opens September 29. It will be located in the same building as the GIA Laboratory and Research Center in Bangkok.
Beginning in October, a variety of GIA lab classes and programs will begin at the new campus, including diamond grading, gem identification, colored stone and pearl grading lab classes. Programs include both GIA Graduate Gemologist and Graduate Diamond.
“Thailand (night view at left) is the world’s leading gemstone trading and cutting center and a priority for GIA,” said Bev Hori, GIA chief learning officer and vice president of education. The new campus offers close proximity to our laboratory and research facility, access to our industry experts, and exposure to the latest gemological discoveries as they occur, she said.
The new location and telephone number of the GIA campus in Bangkok is: U Chu Liang Building, 2ndFloor, 968 Rama 4 Road, Silom, Bangrak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand. Phone: (66) 2632 4590. Click here for the class schedule for the remainder of 2011 and all of 2012 for the Bangkok campus, or for more information visit www.giathai.net or www.gia.edu.
Separately, the GIA GemFest 2011 in Hong Kong features two special events: one, a seminar on Australian natural pearling by GIA’s Kenneth Scarratt, managing director of GIA Southeast Asia, and director of the GIA lab in Bangkok; and two, a presentation on diamonds and book signing by industry experts Andrew Coxon and Yasukazu Suwa.
Scarratt’s presentation will be Sept. 20 from 11 a.m. to noon in room 201 A/B at the AsiaWorld-Expo at Hong Kong International Airport. Refreshments will be served after the lecture.
Coxon, president of De Beers Diamond Institute, and Suwa, chairman of Suwa & Son Inc., will provide an overview of their book “Diamonds: Rough to Romance,” which examines diamond characteristics from rough to polished. They will provide run-of-mine images from various sources and discuss how to identify the quality of rough. A book signing will follow the seminar.
GIA GemFest is a free, educational program that brings together industry experts to discuss relevant and important gem and jewelry topics.To RSVP, call (+852) 2303 0075, email giahk@netvigator.com or visit www.giahongkong.com.
Breaking news: At press time, GIA just announced the termination of the agreement with the owners of its licensee school in Florence, Italy. GIA--which does not own or control the school--has been informed that the owners intend to file for bankruptcy. In a letter to students and alumni, GIA president Donna Baker emphasized GIA's commitment to its students in the Florence school, and is trying to contact them to assist with transitional needs. Students enrolled in the Florence school will be offered transitional assitance to another GIA campus, such as London (closest to Florence) or to distance education. Those electing not to continue their GIA education will receive a full refund of fees paid. Florence students or those with information to contact those students are urgently asked to email GIAFlorencehelp@gia.edu or call (760) 603-4001.
Diamond Empowerment Fund Names First Botswana Beneficiary
New York, NY—The Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) announces “The Top Achievers Program” as its first education beneficiary in Botswana. The Top Achievers Program is DEF’s third beneficiary. The first two are the CIDA City Campus, a business college in Johannesburg, South Africa, that is free to attendees with the requirement that they return to their native villages and teach for a period of time after graduation; and the African Leadership Academy, a secondary school in Johannesburg that draws students from all 54 countries in Africa to teach them leadership skills and the foundations of ethical governance.
The Top Achievers program in Botswana represents a groundbreaking partnership between DEF and the Government of Botswana’s Ministry of Education. Top Achievers is a program that selects the top 30 high school students countrywide in Botswana, and affords them the opportunity to study at a university of their choice around the world.
Botswana is one of Africa's top diamond-producing nations.
DEF advisory board member Elliot Tannenbaum of Leo Schachter said, “The efforts of the Top Achievers Program is an outgrowth of our very positive interaction with the Botswana workforce in the diamond industry. It is therefore in line with our vision of empowering African youth through education, creating a self-sustainable economic future for Africa.”
Nancy Orem Lyman, DEF executive director, added, “DEF’s support of the Top Achievers Program in Botswana signifies our recognition of the importance of this diamond producing nation and the impact diamond beneficiation will have on its future. It marks the initial program based in Botswana DEF will support.”
The program is administered with the government’s strategy and vision to diversify the economy of Botswana through a broader skill base, and position the country as a center of excellence. The Top Achievers are advised to pursue fields of study that include finance, medical research, leadership, entrepreneurship, and many more.
For more details please contact Diamond Empowerment Fund at (212) 840-9399.
Luxury Retailers Use Social Media for Hurricane Communiques
New York, NY—While Hurricane Irene did more than her fair share of damage, she didn’t have much impact on sales of luxury goods. Most luxury retailers in her path did close during and immediately after the storm, but ecommerce was alive and humming. According to an article on LuxuryDaily.com, luxury sales are doing well and retail stocks are up post-Irene. Luxury retailers in the storm’s path typically did close during the worst of the storm—August 27 and 28—and generally turned to social media first to keep consumers up to date. Bloomingdale’s and Bergdorf Goodman in New York, for example, wished customers well via Facebook, while Mercedes-Benz USA posted a link to the Red Cross disaster preparedness site.
Tokyo Diamond Exchange Announces Directors
Antwerp, Belgium--The Tokyo Diamond Exchange Inc. announces its board of directors. Hidetaka Kato was named honorary dean, Michio Iwasaki, president, and Nobuhiro Imanishi, vice president. Other appointments include Koji Kiriya, senior managing director, HIromoto Iwasawa and Michio Fukui, managing directors, and Osamu Matsuo, secretary general and director.
Directors include: Yukihiro Kuwayama, Masami Tatsumi, Tatsuhiro Yoshida, Ichiro Uchihara, Shunji Murakami, Akiyuki Mizutani, Koji Takatani, Chiaki Nakagawa, Osamu Matsuo, Fujio Takada, Masakazu Akechi, Naoki Ito, Susumu Kotani, Yoshinobu Narukawa, Atul Jhaveri, Kazuhiko Ujiie, Hisao Kato, Masuhisa Fujita, and Yasuaki Sakuma.