GIA
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA), internationally recognised as ‘The World’s Foremost Authority in Gemology™, is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, and has 19 locations worldwide. Through research, education, laboratory services, instrument development, and communications outreach, GIA is dedicated to serving the public trust in gems and jewelry by upholding the highest standards of integrity, academics, science and professionalism.
GIA Worldwide Services
Laboratory Services
GIA - The World’s Most
Trusted Name in Diamond Grading & Gemstone Identification. It is the corporate birthplace
of the International Diamond Grading System™ (1953) which is based on the famous
Four Cs – Colour, Clarity, Cut and Carat Weight – also created by GIA. Today, GIA’s
grading system is considered the global standard for describing the quality of diamonds.
Using this system, GIA provides a scientific, impartial assessment of a diamond’s quality, and the results appear on the GIA Diamond Grading Report, the world’s most trusted gemmological report. The GIA Laboratory also supplies professional identification and grading services for natural or synthetic gemstones and identifies any treatments that might have been applied to those gemstones.
Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, GIA has gemmological laboratories in Carlsbad, New York, Bangkok, Mumbai and Johannesburg. GIA also owns and operates a Laboratory Service Center in Hong Kong where GIA client service personnel package and send diamonds to GIA laboratories for grading. In addition, GIA LabDirect centres, located in Antwerp, Mumbai, Ramat Gan and Tokyo, also act as take-in windows, but are run by affiliated organisations.
Education
Established in 1931
by author, educator, and visionary Robert M. Shipley, GIA is known to many as ‘the
Harvard of the gem and jewellery industry’. More than 200,000 students worldwide
have completed GIA courses in gemmology, jewellery manufacturing arts, and business
programmes through distance education and on campus curricula. The professional
credentials GIA graduates have earned – Graduate Gemologist (GG), Graduate Jeweler
(GJ), and Accredited Jewelry Professional (AJP) – are revered worldwide.
GIA’s education arm has two US campuses in Carlsbad and New York. The Institute has 12 international campuses located in Tokyo, Seoul, Osaka, Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Mumbai, Florence, Moscow and London.
Research
As one of the world’s
largest grading laboratories, GIA is often the first to detect new gem materials
and new gem treatments. The Institute has research centers in Carlsbad, Antwerp
and Bangkok. GIA’s distinguished researchers and scientists serve as the world’s
most respected source of gemmological discovery. The data collected by GIA Research
is then shared with the public and the trade in many different ways.
Communications
GIA disseminates new-found
scientific knowledge through the Institute’s educational courses and in speaking
engagements and presentations around the world. Furthermore, GIA publishes such
information and other news in award-winning technical journals that include Gems
& Gemology; a quarterly publication for the GIA alumni association; The Loupe, for
external readers; alumn.connect, an alumni e-newsletter; and GIA Insider, another
electronic newsletter for an external media that is sent to the trade media and
a list of interested subscribers.
Instruments
Since the early 1930s,
GIA Instruments has worked with the Institute’s scientists, researchers, educators
and engineers to develop gemmological equipment. GIA Instruments is credited with
developing many important tools, including the modern jeweller’s loupe. GIA’s gemmological
microscope has graded more diamonds and identified more gemstones than any other
microscope in the world.
Community and Industry Outreach
Open to both the general public and members of the trade, GIA’s Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center is the world’s largest gemmological library. The GIA Museum creates and shares gemmological exhibits with other museums around the world.