Knowledge sessions scheduled for September 16, the first day of Jewellery & Gem WORLD Hong Kong (JGW) 2024, will offer fresh perspectives on coloured gemstones.

In the 3pm session, the limelight falls on jade as renowned gemmologist and author Richard W. Hughes, co-founder of Lotus Gemology Co Ltd, shares his insights on the famed gem.

Jade has been treasured by the Chinese for some 10,000 years. Outside of China, people generally think of jade as fei cui from Burma, where the finest quality is a vivid green. Within China, however, jade is a stone of an entirely different character, with the finest quality being white.

In the 30-minute session entitled “Jade: China’s Gift to the World,” Richard will offer a brief survey of the places fei cui and nephrite come from and then delve into the real Chinese jade, the true “Stone of Heaven.”

Expert opinion 
One of the world’s foremost experts on ruby and sapphire, Richard has authored several books and over 170 articles. His writings and photographs have also appeared in a diverse range of publications, and he has received numerous industry awards. 

Co-winner of the 2004 Edward J. Gübelin Most Valuable Article Award from Gems & Gemology magazine, he was awarded a Richard T. Liddicoat Journalism Award from the American Gem Society the following year. In 2010, he received the Antonio C. Bonanno Award for Excellence in Gemology from the Accredited Gemologists Association. 

The Association Française de Gemmologie (AFG) in 2013 named Richard as one of the 50 most important figures that have shaped the history of gems since antiquity. In 2016, Richard was awarded a visiting professorship at Shanghai’s Tongji University. 

2017 saw the publication of Richard and his wife and daughter’s Ruby & Sapphire • A Gemologist’s Guide, arguably the most complete book ever published on a single gem species and the culmination of nearly four decades of work in gemmology. 

In 2018, Richard was named Photographer of the Year by the Gem-A, recognising his photo of a jade-trading market in China, while from 2020 – 2023, he served on the board of directors of the Accredited Gemologists Association. Currently he sits on the editorial review boards of Gems & Gemology and The Australian Gemmologist magazines. Richard’s latest book, Jade • A Gemologist’s Guide, was published in 2022. 

In 2023, Richard was recognised as one of the Extraordinary 40 Awardees of the Jewellery World Awards (JWA) – a prestigious accolade honouring pioneers, visionaries, educators and innovators in the jewellery and gemstone sector.

Internal focus
E. Billie Hughes, co-founder of Lotus Gemology, takes the stage from 4:20pm to 4:50pm for her session entitled "Inside Out: Journey into the Centre of a Gem.”

Going beyond the outward beauty of coloured gemstones, Billie will share the microscopic depths of rubies and sapphires, sharing a world that most have never glimpsed.

Billie visited her first gem mine (in Thailand) at age two and by age four had visited three major sapphire localities in Montana. A 2011 graduate of UCLA, she qualified as a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (FGA) in 2013. After that, she became a co-founder of Lotus Gemology laboratory. 

An award-winning photographer and photomicrographer, she has won prizes in the Nikon Small World and Gem-A competitions, among others. One of the focuses of her research has been low-temperature heat treatment of corundum, for which the Accredited Gemologists Association awarded her their Gemological Research Grant in 2019. 

Billie is a sought-after lecturer and has spoken around the world to groups including Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.

The September 16 sessions will take place at the main stage area in Hall 9 of the AsiaWorld-Expo.

Online registration for JGW 2024 is now open.

Click here for JNA's updates on Jewellery & Gem WORLD Hong Kong