WILMA VAN DER GIESSEN

Since 1972 Wilma has been collecting minerals and gems and has built an impressive gemmological library. She received her first diamond education from Mr. S. Asscher in 1980 and in 1983 graduated at the German DGemG in Idar Oberstein as a diamond professional. At the age of 18, she was introduced to the diamond world in Antwerp where she learned all about rough and polished diamonds.

Two years later, in 1985, she received her FGA diploma and in 1991 graduated as a GG at GIA’s headquarters in Santa Monica, USA.

In 1997, shortly after its introduction to the gem world, she was the first in The Netherlands to identify a synthetic moissanite, which was being offered to a jeweller as a 1.00 brilliant cut diamond.

Wilma has great experience in retail and has educated a great number of Asian (Chinese and Indonesian) salespeople at a diamond company in Amsterdam where she also supervised the diamond collection.

Traveling is one of her great passions and she has visited gem mines in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and in 2006 she visited the Pala mines in San Diego whilst attending the GIA gemological research conference and symposium.

Over the years Wilma has given many presentations about gemstones for international organisations in The Hague, Amsterdam, Tehran and Jakarta and Surabaya in Indonesia.

Her teaching space is a true paradise for gemmology students because they have access to a great collection of both natural and synthetic gemstones.

Wilma loves cooking and is an avid photographer of gemstone inclusions and nature.

You can reach Wilma at wilma@worldgemfoundation.com