Dr. Laurent E. Cartier Fga

Biography

 Laurent holds a PhD from the University of Basel (Switzerland). His PhD research explored sustainability and traceability issues in pearl farming, and in this context co-founded the Sustainable Pearls project which also obtained funding from The Tiffany & Co. Foundation. He has been working for a number of years on issues of natural resource management and sustainable sourcing of gemstone materials. He continues to work on sustainability issues in coloured gemstones and diamonds and frequently visits mining areas, most recently in West Africa and Burma. He has authored articles in all major gemological journals. His work has been featured by National Geographic, BBC, FastCoExist, Inhorgenta and Tages Anzeiger. He is a member of Impact Hub Zürich, a space where entrepreneurs and social innovators come together to realize their ideas for a sustainable world. He holds a Master in Earth Sciences from Basel University and is a fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain. He also works for the Swiss Gemmological Institute SSEF - a leading gemmological laboratory- and is a lecturer in gemmology at University of Lausanne & ELSTE.

Research Interest

  Geology and Earth Science