Founder
Mark Riczu
By day, Mark is a passionate fundraiser as well as marketing and communications professional, by night he enjoys the meditative art of gem cutting. Born and raised in Calgary, Mark currently resides in Toronto.
His interest in gem cutting, in part, has grown out of his studies in mathematics. Mark completed an MA in pure mathematics with a specialization in geometry. “Probably one of my key inspirations was studying the Coxeter projections of regular n-dimensional polytopes, which themselves look like the crowns of infinitely complex gemstones”.
Inspired to further his studies into gem cutting, Mark attended Venice of the East gem cutting school in Bangkok, Thailand. There he learned the art of Thai style gem cutting using a traditional ‘jambpeg’ cutting machine. By contrast to North American ‘precision’ gem cutting, the Thai style is more freeform, utilizing memorized patterns and a ‘guess and check’ style of meet-point faceting. Inspired by the art of Thai cutting and the precision of North American cutting, Mark adopted a unique hybrid style of handpiece cutting favored in Sri Lanka and among many master gem cutters outside North America.
Quite to his surprise, Mark found another aspect of the gem trade to be equally fascinating as cutting, and just a little less meditative–purchasing gem rough in adventuresome mining locales around the world. This combines the joy of travel, the art of the deal, relationship building and the excitement of a treasure hunt.
When he’s not behind the cutting lap or travelling the world, Mark is working on developing a new business in commercial cutting in Arusha, Tanzania.
Mark is excited to consider your commissioned cutting or gemstone sourcing needs and welcomes the opportunity to connect!
