By David Brough
BANGKOK – The GIT (the Gem and Jewelry Institute), Thailand’s state-backed lab, houses one of the world’s best gemmological libraries, featuring books about science, brand history, and biographies of leading designers such as JAR.
GIT attracts gemmological students from around the world, sometimes attending Gem-A courses, or focusing on GIT’s primary areas of expertise, which include the gemmology of coloured gemstones.
“Sometimes Indian students, for example, who are well-versed in diamonds, visit the GIT to learn more about coloured gemstones which they do not know as well,” the GIT’s Director-General, Mr Sumed Prasongpongchai, said during a visit by Jewellery Outlook Editor David Brough.
The GIT also houses a museum , with a nominal charge for visiting tourists and free entry for its students, which on the occasion of this reporter’s visit featured an exhibition about Burmese amber.
The permanent exhibition at the museum explains the history and composition of gemstones embedded in the earth’s crust for millions of years, and profiles a variety of gemstones.
The GIT also accommodates an extensive R & D department, incorporating the latest machine technologies, and a precious metals department housing state-of-the-art precious metal analysers.
At the entrance to the museum is a concept store that offers a variety of gemstone-set jewellery pieces by young designers.
Mr Sumed at the GIT concept store
