The Unique Awards 2026 recognizes the exceptional craftsmanship and innovation that define the pinnacle of high jewellery. To explore the rigorous standards applied to this year’s entries, we discuss the evolution of the craft and the criteria for excellence withSarah Hlad, Professor of Gemmology and History of Jewellery Art atÉcole Internationale de Gemmologie (EIG) de Monaco.
Representing the institution as an official judge, Sarah brings an unparalleled technical background to the panel. Her career includes pivotal roles at the workshops ofVan Cleef & Arpelsand quality control atManufacture Cartier Joaillerie. In 2024, she foundedL’Agence des Contrôleurs Joailliers, providing specialized expertise to the most prestigious Maisons in Paris.
As the only gemmological institution in the world to offer two state-authorized Bachelor’s degrees, EIG Monaco is defined by its immersion in the global market. Students engage directly with producing countries, international fairs, and auction houses, ensuring a perspective that is both academically rigorous and deeply practical. This comprehensive understanding of how jewellery moves through the world ensures that every piece in the Diamond Excellence and Gemstone Mastery categories is evaluated with absolute precision.
What makes Monaco uniquely positioned as a centre for gemmological education? Why did EIG choose the Principality as its home in 2007?
Monaco is not simply a prestigious backdrop, it is a living ecosystem where gemmology breathes excellence every single day. Founded in 2007, EIG Monaco chose the Principality for what it truly represents in the international luxury world: a singular crossroads between Haute Joaillerie, exceptional international trade, and an uncompromising standard of quality. Studying in Monaco means immersing oneself in a vibrant HBJO universe, watchmaking, jewellery, gemmology, goldsmithing, steps away from the world’s most renowned maisons and professionals. The codes of luxury cannot be learned from textbooks alone; they are absorbed through the very atmosphere of the Principality. That is the core value of EIG: training gemmologists who understand not only the stone, but the entire world surrounding it, from the mine to the exceptional jewel. Monaco makes that connection immediate, tangible, and real.
You balance scientific rigour with commercial knowledge and creative understanding. Where do you see the biggest gap in traditional gemmological education that EIG addresses?
The real gap in traditional gemmological education is a confusion between two distinct professions, and the failure to train students for either one with sufficient depth. At EIG Monaco, we have made a deliberate choice: two separate Bachelor’s degrees, each built around a clearly defined professional identity to fulfil the requirements of the labour market. The Bachelor Jeweller-Gemmologist is designed for professionals who will operate at the intersection of science, commerce, and luxury strategy. They will become gem traders, international sourcing specialists, advisors to major jewellery houses, auction house experts, or independent brokers. Their world is one of negotiation, market analysis, client relationships, and strategic decision-making, underpinned by solid gemmological expertise. The Bachelor European Gemmologist Expert takes a different path entirely. This is the scientific track, the one that leads to gemmological laboratories, quality control for prestigious maisons, forensic expertise for courts, insurance assessments, and independent certification. These professionals master identification, provenance, traceability, and the critical reading of international lab reports. They are not salespeople; they are the independent scientific authority the entire industry relies on. Both programmes share the same rigorous gemmological foundation, six progressive certificates, a hands-on collection of thousands of stones, state-of-the-art instrumentation, but diverge sharply in their professional focus. At EIG Monaco, we do not train generic gemmologists. We train professionals who know exactly who they are and where they are going.
Your students travel from Sri Lanka to Hong Kong as part of their training. What do they gain from experiencing gems at their source that they couldn’t learn in a Monaco laboratory?
It is essential to be clear about this: at EIG Monaco, field travel is not an optional add-on or a study tour offered as an extra. It is a full academic unit, a core, assessed component of the degree itself. In the Bachelor Jeweller-Gemmologist, it constitutes UE4; in the Bachelor European Gemmologist Expert, it is built into UE3. You cannot obtain the degree without it. This is a fundamental distinction from most gemmological schools, where international immersion, when it exists at all, is peripheral. At EIG, it is central, because we believe you cannot call yourself a genuine gemmologist without having confronted the realities of the trade beyond the laboratory bench. For the Bachelor Jeweller-Gemmologist students, the field programme unfolds in two stages: in year one, they travel to Sri Lanka, from the alluvial rivers of Ratnapura to the trading markets of Beruwala, immersed in the intercultural realities of a producing country, guided by a field expert gemmologist. In year two, the focus shifts to business development: GemGenève, VicenzaOro, Tucson, Hong Kong and international auction houses, the fairs and venues where deals are made and professional networks built. For the Bachelor European Gemmologist Expert students, the programme includes two field experiences during the year: a visit to a producing country, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Madagascar or Pakistan depending on geopolitical conditions, to analyse stones at the source alongside local professionals, and participation in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines to engage directly with gem exporters in a trading context. Both are guided by an expert gemmologist. What students gain is irreplaceable: a gaze shaped by reality, a professional network built on the ground, and the intercultural fluency that the industry increasingly demands. These are not experiences. They are competencies, validated, assessed, and inscribed in the degree.
Your graduates work everywhere from mining operations to haute joaillerie maisons, from auction houses to retail. How do you prepare students for such diverse career paths?
The diversity of our graduates’ careers is not accidental, it is the direct result of a deliberate institutional choice made by the Principality of Monaco and by EIG: the decision to offer two separate, officially authorised Bachelor’s degrees, each responding to distinct and pressing demands from the industry. The jewellery and gemmology sectors are today facing two simultaneous challenges that require very different kinds of expertise. On the one hand, the luxury market is globalising, clients are increasingly sophisticated, and maisons need professionals who can operate with authority across sourcing, commercial strategy, heritage valuation, and international trade. That is the Jeweller-Gemmologist Bachelor. On the other hand, the explosion of synthetic stones, advanced treatments, and sophisticated imitations has created an urgent need for independent scientific experts capable of guaranteeing the integrity of the market, for insurers, auction houses, courts, laboratories, and consumers worldwide. That is the European Gemmologist Expert Bachelor. Monaco understood this duality and responded with a dual offer. Two pathways, two professional identities, one shared standard of excellence. Our graduates arrive on the market knowing exactly which world they have been trained for, and they are recognised for it. The result is a genuinely diverse alumni community: some in international gem trading, others in haute joaillerie advising, in certification laboratories, in auction houses, in wealth management for UHNWI clients, or launching independent expertise practices. Each of them carries the credential of a Monaco-authorised degree, and the weight that comes with it.
Monaco attracts students and professionals from around the world. What kind of students does EIG typically draw, and what do they seek in a Monaco-based gemmological education?
EIG Monaco welcomes extraordinarily diverse profiles, and that diversity is precisely what makes the school so vibrant. Some arrive young, embarking on a passion-driven career change. Others are already working in the sector and want to consolidate or formalise their expertise. Others come from producing or trading countries, seeking European validation for existing experience. All of them find, at EIG Monaco, a school that has genuinely thought through the logistics of access. The programmes are designed with real flexibility: a Bachelor over one or two years, intensive block-week modules, evening or afternoon courses, once-a-week or once-a-month formats, private lessons, mid-year entry, and direct access to second year for those with prior gemmological foundations. Passion days and free discovery workshops offer a first step for those who are simply curious. Critically, all of this is accessible in both French and English. Our professors are bilingual, and the curriculum is delivered in both languages, including a dedicated “Gemmology in English” module in the Expert Gemmologist programme. This international dimension is not incidental: it directly prepares students for a profession that operates in English worldwide, on the trading floors of Bangkok, the labs of Antwerp, and the jewellery fairs of Tucson. Whatever your profile, scientific, commercial, creative, or adventurous, there is a gateway into EIG Monaco. And at the other end: an officially recognised degree, real expertise, and an international professional network.
The gemstone and jewellery industry is changing rapidly: lab-grown stones, sustainability concerns, and new markets. How does EIG stay current while teaching timeless fundamentals?
This is the creative tension at the heart of any excellent education: preserving what is essential while remaining fully engaged with the world as it is. At EIG Monaco, we have built that tension directly into the curriculum. The fundamentals, rigorous observation, precise identification, professional ethics, do not go out of date. They are the tools that will keep our graduates right in twenty years’ time, not just today. Six progressive diplomas, a collection of thousands of stones, state-of-the-art instruments: this is the scientific backbone that never changes. But the curriculum goes significantly further. UE3, our Research unit, is dedicated entirely to keeping students connected to the present. This means active scientific monitoring of gemmological developments: new synthetics, evolving treatments, emerging identification techniques. It means sociological monitoring of the jewellery sector: luxury trends, market shifts, the changing expectations of collectors and consumers. And it means students producing genuine research work of their own, reading lab reports critically, interrogating sources, and positioning themselves as professionals capable of intellectual rigour, not just technical skill. Students learn about the Kimberley Process, traceability standards, CIBJO and AGTA nomenclature, ethical sourcing, and the growing scrutiny around lab-grown diamonds, not as footnotes, but as core professional competencies. EIG Monaco trains experts capable of reading a shifting market, not technicians frozen in yesterday’s certainties. Scientific rigour and contemporary intelligence do not oppose each other, they fuel each other.
The Unique Show showcases the pinnacle of high jewellery in Monaco. What does an event like this mean for a school training the next generation of gemmologists?
The Unique Show is precisely the environment our graduates are destined to work in. Being here means touching the very purpose of everything we teach. A gemstone is not merely a mineral specimen. It is the result of an extraordinary human chain, from the mine to the jeweller’s bench, from expert assessment to the emotion of the final client. The Unique Show embodies that chain at its highest expression. For our students and alumni, this event is a confirmation: gemmology is not an austere discipline, it is a living, creative, deeply passionate one. It touches rarity, beauty, and value in every sense of the word. And for EIG Monaco, being associated with The Unique Show is a statement of positioning: we do not train stone technicians. We train professionals of excellence, equipped with official degrees, grounded in real field experience, and alive to the sensitivity this remarkable world demands. That is the ambition of EIG Monaco. And it is here in Monaco, nowhere else, that it finds its fullest meaning.
Join us at The Unique Show – Luxury Monte-Carlo 2026
The Unique Awards will be a centerpiece ofThe Unique Show | Luxury Monte-Carlo, held fromJune 11th to 14th, 2026, atLe Méridien Beach Plaza. This event offers an exclusive opportunity to view exceptional high jewellery from independent designers and established houses, adjudicated by experts such as Sarah Hlad and the faculty of EIG Monaco.
We invite collectors, designers, and enthusiasts to witness this celebration of technical excellence and contemporary artistry. Please complete the registration via the link below to secure your attendance at Monaco’s premier high jewellery event.
Register for The Unique Show and The Unique Awards.
We look forward to welcoming you to Monaco this June✨