This job is first and foremost a matter of trust. There’s nothing else, really. Of course, you can add knowledge, technique, skills. Call it what you like. But for me, the only thing I will remember about this job is trust. You take a stone, possibly several, you leave with your trust but not all the time. On the other hand, you shake the hand of the lender and it’s good. You take a piece out of your workshop to your serto or your polisher and you know, inevitably, that you will get it back. It’s so obvious. And you would never, ever think of not returning a piece. Or else you’re sick.
So, yes, dishonest people do exist. But the two I’ve met throughout my professional life, well, they don’t practice anymore. And I might as well tell you that with the reputation they have now, they wouldn’t risk putting a toe in the street, cadet. No, no risk. So, trust, because there’s nothing more important in this business. I work the old-fashioned way, and yet I’m forced to become more ‘administrative’ than I was fifteen or twenty years ago, to have people sign triplicate papers or follow standard procedures, and that’s to my great displeasure! And that annoys me…
M., diamond dealer, 40 years in business
Grains
I was fourteen when I started going to my uncle's workshop. He was a setter, like most of the guys in my family. I used to come and see him on Wednesday afternoons. He would tell me to sit next to him and I would watch him. After a...