Bangkok--7 Oct--GIT
Known globally as GIT, The Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand is moving ahead to fortify its stance as the national core centre of jewelry education and business services by relocating itself to a new home in the heart of Bangkok’s business area.
Housed in the ITF Tower on Silom Road, the institute aims to better facilitate businessmen and people and effectively respond to the increasing demands in the gem and jewelry field by offering services ranging from analysing gems (diamonds, precious stones and pearls), testing and certifying precious metals to providing training and information on gems and jewelry.
GIT director Wilawan Atichat says a need for the relocation results mainly from the institute’s growing success in gem and jewelry services since its establishment in 1999. The GIT was then situated in the Faculty of Sciences of Chulalongkorn University where it began to anchor itself in the gem and jewelry field. Once its name was recognised among customers, both domestically and internationally, it has increasingly gained trust from them as an institute that provides highly acceptable gemstone identification and education. Over the past 12 years, as the GIT has grown stronger, the old place has become smaller, compared with the demands of its prospective customers and students.
So, Mrs Wilawan says, the institute has changed its home to the ITF Tower on Silom road, which is a centre of gem and jewelry trade, in order to fulfill the growing demands. Only its mission has never changed. The GIT aims at being “the national core centre to develop and promote Thai gem and jewelry industry for effectively competing in the world market,” Mrs Wilawan recalls.
Its new home occupies more than 2,600 square metres, the four times bigger than the old place and is decorated to create a modern mood for visitors. Services and administration are divided into five sections located from the first to the fourth and sixth floors. They are:
The first floor — Gem and Jewelry Library
On the area of 100 square metres, the GIT library gathers together books on gems and jewelry around the world to make itself a centre of self-learning. People who visit the library will be first greeted with the array of magazines on gems and jewelry from 80 publishers both in Thailand and abroad. There are more than 4,500 magazines of past and present editions to serve the enthusiasts.
The inner zone of the library houses up to 3,500 academic texts which include 2,200 foreign books. The quiet and calm in this area is ideal for contemplating on issues of interest that need great attention.
For readers who want to try more modern services, the library is also offering electronic media on hundreds of gem and jewelry topics.
The second floor — Gem and Jewelry Museum
This section also provides visitors with the self-learning experience. With the eight different zones of gem and jewelry display, they will be urged to have a closer look into the birth of gems and their production in factories and trades. Rare gems and precious metals are also exhibited in this section. The eight zones are:
1 Zone A: The birth of gems and precious stone mines in Thailand
2 Zone B: Types of gems
3 Zone C: The cutting, polishing and making of jewelry
4 Zone D: Organic gems
5 Zone E: Synthetic gems
6 Zone F: Gold mines and precious metals
7 Zone G: Popular jewelry
8 Theatre: a room that films the story of gems from “upstream to downstream” (their births to businesses) as well as gems with fluorescent quality
The museum also occasionally displays famous gems and jewelry from leading producers including Beauty Gems, Premier Gems, Prima Gems, Pranda, House of Goldsmiths and the Thai Silver Export Club as well as exhibits awards-winning jewelry.
The exhibition will not only educate people, but it is expected to be a new tourist attraction adding a new charm to Bangkok.
The third floor — Training Centre
Businessmen and people who want to further explore the science of gems and jewelry are welcome to this floor. Experienced experts and facilities, including the wider area and more classrooms, are available to fulfill their thirst of knowledge. Students can choose among a range of courses, including seminars and workshops, to find ones that fit them most. Most popular is the Diamond Identification Grading Course (DGC). The GIT also plans to open new courses later this year: for example, the jewelry design by Matrix computer programme, the international course on gemology, the courses on gem cutting and polishing and jewelry making as well as the workshop on pearl grading.
The institute also offers the In-House Training for companies with specific needs. Among its list of choices is the course on Jewellery Appraisal which the GIT believes will draw a huge interest from the jewellery industry due to its growing market in Asia.
The fourth floor — Gem and Jewelry Testing Centre, Precious Metals Assay and Hallmark Centre and Gem and Jewelry Information Centre
The centres, equipped with supporting database and latest technologies to identify and evaluate gems and jewelry, bring the GIT to stand among leading gem and jewelry laboratories in the world and its name becomes the national pride. The laboratory, certified by the World Jewellery Confederation on its list of the CIBJO Registered Laboratory, is applauded internationally as one of prominent gem and jewelry institutes. It is among five laboratories in the world, known as the Lab Manual Harmonization Committee, which jointly drafted the international manual for labeling jewelry products.
Here, experienced gemologists, mineralogists and geologists are working together to offer a range of tests on gemstones by using sophisticated technologies like Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer, Raman Spectroscope and FTIR Spectrometer. For the assay of precious metals, such modern equipment as Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission, X-Ray Fluorescence and Automatic Titration are used to ensure the precision.
The GIT is also preparing to offer a new service to determine gold in samples through the Fire Assay technique. This method separates other metals from samples by using the Fusion/Cupellation technique in order to extract pure gold for weighing.
Despite the strong reputation of the institute, it has relentlessly developed and maintained its service at the international standard. In July in 2011, the GIT’s jewelry and precious metal laboratory has been accredited under the ISO 9001:2008. The certification ensures customers of its high quality service of gem and precious metal testing.
Beside the testing centers, the fourth floor also features the database of gems and jewelry to keep businessmen and people updated on the latest market conditions of the industry. They can visit http://gemandjewelrydb.git.or.th to look for information they want.
The sixth floor — the GIT’s administration office
With all facilities and manpower, Mrs Wilawan is confident the GIT will grow to be a gem and jewelry service hub in Asia and the world. Its new home on the gem and jewelry trade centre on Silom road is ready to open its doors to worldwide visitors and play a major role in adding values to Thai jewelry products so that the country’s gem and jewelry industry will foster in the world market.