The seventh edition of the Mediterranean Gemmological and Jewellery Conference is set to take place from May 7th to May 11th, 2024, in Cavalese, Italy, and Piran, Slovenia.
The conference will offer participants the opportunity to learn from some of the world’s top independent lab gemmologists, appraisers, and gem experts who are highly trained and equipped with the best tools for testing, grading, and appraising.
The conference’s mission is to educate and assist individuals in understanding the properties of diamonds, gemstones, and jewelry, offering industry members networking opportunities and essential information for building a sustainable business. This marks the seventh in a series of biennial conferences taking place throughout the Mediterranean, allowing delegates to experience new and exciting locations each year.
Inaugurated in 2015 in Athens, Greece, the conference is a project lauched by some of the most influential figures in the gemological field, including Branko Deljanin, a co-founder, whom we will have the opportunity to learn more about today!
Branko Deljanin is President at CGL Canadian Gemlab and Director of Gemmological Research Industries Inc in Vancouver. He is a research gemologist with extensive experience in advanced testing of diamonds and gemstones to determine origin of color. Branko is instructor of “Advanced Gemology” programs on diamonds and coloured stones offered in 17 countries on 4 continents. In 2001 he earned his Advanced Gemology Diploma (DUG) from the University of Nantes in France. He co-authored best selling books on Natural, Treated and Laboratory-grown Diamonds and Gems and has been a regular contributor to trade and gemological magazines and presented reports at a number of research and gemological Conferences, including Mediterranean Gemmological and Jewelry Conference.
IGR: Branko, we know that the conference began in 2015 in Athens as an annual conference and has taken place in so many European cities, moving from Valencia in Spain in 2016, to Syracuse in Italy in the following year; it was held in Budva in Montenegro in 2018 and in Limassol, on the island of Cyprus, in 2019, returning again to Greece in Thessaloniki in 2022 and finally becoming a biennial conference. What to say. Definitely quite an accomplishment. It has involved the participation of experts and enthusiasts for nearly 9 years!
But let’s get more specific, what is the goal of the conference?
Branko: Our MGJ Conference has positioned itself as a bridge between many business and appraising conferences and a few highly scientific conferences. It is a ‘trade-technical’ conference that exposes current trade problems and offers solutions through lectures from leading gemmologists, dealers and manufacturing/instruments experts and workshops with standard and affordable advanced instruments.
IGR: Who attends the MGJ Conferences and why the decidedly strategic choice of venue?
Branko: The participants come from a range of fields notably; gemmologists, jewelers, retailers, gem labs, appraisers, dealers, manufacturers, even mining companies. They came from a record breaking 27 countries in 2019 in Cyprus and 15 in 2022 in Greece. The choice of venue is geographically and economically in the midpoint between western, mostly consumer market and eastern/southern manufacturing and diamond producing market.
IGR: How many attendances have you recorded?
Branko: We have been experiencing an increase in conference attendance from 50 in Greece 2015 to 60 in Spain 2016, to 65 in Italy 2017, to 70 in Montenegro 2018, to 75 in Cyprus 2019, back to 50 in Greece 2022 as the first post-covid conference. We had a table at the Trzic Mineral show in Slovenia 2023 with the Slovenian Museum of Natural History, conference co-organizer and at the Tucson Show 2024 in the USA to attract more North American participants, so we hope to increase the participant number close to 100 in 2024.
IGR: Tell us more about workhops, what opportunities will participants have?
Branko: All jewellers, dealers, gemmologist and appraisers need to update their practical knowledge of natural, treated and synthetic gems and diamonds, with new technology to treat and grow diamonds and gems being used. We created 4 Basic-Intermediate-Advanced workshops in 2 days hosted by Gemmarum by me and other renowned gemmologists, such as Alberto Scarani, Dr Lore Kiefert and Mikko Åström on “ID of Diamond Simulants and LGD” and “ID of Natural, Treated and Synthetic Gems and Diamonds”, some with Country of Origin, using portable standard/advanced instruments like PL/VIS/FTIR/Raman spectrometers provided by MAGILABS. It’s a unique opportunity to get training with lab instruments.
IGR: Who are the participants?
Branko: We are proud to have 10 world leading independent lab gemologists, museum curators and instrument makers as speakers and instructors. Most of them will be part of Round Table – which I will be a part of – “Challenges in ID of Synthetic and Treated Diamonds and Gems”: Adeline Lageder (Gemmological Laboratory, Austria), Alberto Scarani, Mikko Åström (MAGILABS, USA, Finland), Claudio Milisenda (DSEF lab, Germany), Dr. Lore Kiefert (Germany) and Loredana Prosperi (IGI Istituto Gemmologico Italiano).
IGR: We know that the conference…is much more than just a conference, how is it organized?
Branko: In the last 5 years we have visited cutting and CVD factories, mines and tourist attractions. Our support Serbian team put 4 tours with a total of 11 days with experienced tour guides and chauffeurs in Austria, Italy & Slovenia. You will have the opportunity to witness a panoramic view over Vienna from the rooftop of Natural History Museum of Vienna (Night in a Museum with curator Dr. Vera Hammer), enjoy a glass of wine at Heurigen in the evening (wine grower’s cabins), visit Mozart’s home, the Bramberg Emerald Museum, and the Swarovski factory/museum in Austria. Experience hiking in the Dolomite mountains, visit Predazzo geological museum, – an old Fluorite mine – , the Murano glass factory in Venice in Italy and a boat ride to Piran-a resort city on Slovenia’s Adriatic coast. The tours will end in Slovenia where we will visit the Trzic Mineral & Gem show, Zois’s Mineral/Tanzanite exhibitions at Slovenian Museum of Natural History and Slovenian Jewellery Week in Ljubljana. It’s a conference trip to meet gemmologists from 4 continents and make long-term friendships!
All updates on the workshops and conference will follow in the coming weeks.
