Biography

Santiago used to fossick for anything bright and colourful since his early days, but it was not until mid 2020 that he discovered the amazing world of gem cutting. This finding blew him away, becoming instantaneously in love with the beauty that radiates from a well cut gem and the process of turning rough into something simply amazing.

He first acquired a home made faceting machine, then quickly moved to a commercial hand piece and finally got a new Ultra Tec in August 2021, pursuing always the goal of learning, getting better, achieving the most precise and the best gemstones that can be cut and ultimately mastering the art of gem cutting.

In this short period of time and with that clear goal in mind, he has consumed tons of online resources, followed a couple of online faceting and design courses by Justin K Prim and culminated with an in person advanced course by Ramon Tesoro, master cutter at Masterpiece Collective. All of these, plus becoming a Coloured Gemstone Professional by the World Gem Foundation and of course cutting a bunch of gems, were completed while working as a full time software developer.

Born with an analytical mind and being a highly detail oriented person, gem cutting is a perfect match for Santiago, who is determined to make a great contribution to the world of gemstones with his work.