Swiss gemologist Hervé Nicolas Lazzarelli was born in Geneva in 1964. He discovered his passion for gemstones in the 1990's in Ouro Preto, Brazil, where he attended his first gemology class before moving on to major mining areas.

He graduated in 1998 as a gemologist from the AIGS (Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences) in Bangkok and then attended the Harry Oppenheimer Rough Diamond Training Class in Johannesburg the same year.

In 2000, he got his lapidary certificate in the SENA (Servicio Nacional de Aprentisaje) in Popayan, Colombia, where he also taught gemology and developed the first version of the BLUECHART as a teaching aid.

Tobias Bührer