Est.2014
Our team
Our international core team, is based between Italy, France, Switzerland, Greece, Finland, and Panama. Each issue comes together with the help of a talented group of creative people, graphic designers, photographers and writers who embrace all submissions we receive from our precious partners from all over the world. At the Jewellery Historian we are all volunteers and we are proud of this amazing project that unites people from all over the globe and for all the amazing works of arts we showcase in every single issue.
The creativity, expertise, and enthusiasm of our team are evident in each single issue. At the Jewellery Historian we believe in diversity since an inclusive culture is good for business, fostering the creativity and innovation.
Meet some people from our international core team and feel free to join us today !
Eva Kountouraki
Eva Kountouraki was born and raised in a family of goldsmiths and jewelers. From a very young age she expressed her keen interest in gems, jewelry and design, a passion that led her to devote her studies and her career in this field. She started her first collection of polished and rough gemstones at a very early age and realized that this would be her profession in the future.
After studying gemology books in various languages, she attended gemological seminars in Greece and Europe and developed practical skills to analyze gems, Eva decided to accredit those skills choosing the best gemological institute in the world, GIA (Gemological Institute of America), for her studies.
Succeeding unprecedented results in the practice and theory of gemology, analyzing and identifying thousands of gemstones and diamonds, she graduated and acquired the prestigious certificate GIA Graduate Gemologist Diploma, which includes specific studies in diamond grading (GIA Graduate Diamonds Diploma) and colored gemstones (GIA Graduate Colored Stones Diploma). Her studies in the jew- elry field continued and Eva got her Jewelry Business Management Diploma, gaining specialized knowledge about all the aspects of the jewelry industry. Her training continued with jewelry design and computer aided design.
Eva’s brilliant path in the field of gemology was crowned by her collaboration with the Italian branch of GIA. Eva received special training from professional and experienced gemologists of GIA Italy, New York and California US, and for more than a decade she teaches gemology and jewelry design in GIA, transferring her experience, knowledge and passion for diamonds, gems and jewelry to her students -famous professionals from around world.
Eve is proud to be the only Greek woman who has ever accomplished such a distinction in the field of diamonds and precious stones.
Alongside her work as a gemology instructor, Eva is a jewelry and gemstone buyer and consultant for privates and companies, advising and helping her clients to make successful purchases and investments in gemstones. She also organizes and teaches seminars for the training of gemstone and jewelry merchants, salespeople and gem passionates.
Among others, she is also teaching at the world famous Istituto Marangoni in Milan.
Eva Kountouraki is among the firsts who joined our magazine and her column "The unique beauty of gems" is published in every issue. She is the Gemology Department Editor of the Jewellery Historian.
Panayiotis Simopoulos
Panayiotis Simopoulos is the creative director-at-large of the Jewellery Historian. In his role, he contributes to special projects and serves as roving ambassador with links to all creative areas of the magazine, in close collaboration with the founder & editor-in-chief of the magazine.
With a successful world career as a fashion top model and as a talented fashion photographer, he is the rarest kind of creative artist, one who creates extraordinary images. With a unique creative vision, whilst maintaining a clear vision of delivering a message that speaks directly to the reader, he ultimately creates an exciting and balanced visual experience.
Together with many of the most talented young photographers, he definitely delivers, the most memorable, exciting and unique images and fashion editorials that the magazine has ever published.
Panayiotis lives between the United States and Europe with world travels all year around.
Shon Balaish
Shon Balaish is the first ambassador of the Jewellery Historian. Shon loves history, luxury and has a luxury DNA and iconic ultra-chic style. In his role, he contributes to special projects and serves as roving ambassador with links to all creative areas of the magazine, in close collaboration with Lucas Samaltanos-Ferrier, the founder & editor-in-chief of the magazine.
With a successful world career as a fashion top model and known for his famous parties in Tel Aviv and around the globe, Shon is not only an amazing fashion model who intrinsically understands fashion and style, but he represents the lifestyle that the Jewellery Historian stands for. He embodies the soul, the music, and the art that is the Jewellery Historian.
Lara van Schaik
Lara van Schaik is founder of La Chatelaine Jewelry, an online boutique in high quality vintage jewelry from the period 1900 – 1960 with a focus on Art Deco and Retro.
She is the daughter of an antique dealer in Dutch regional antique jewelry. She is a gemologist trained by GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and a registered appraiser in Holland. She lives in France where she finds most of her treasures at local auction houses and in Paris.
La chatelaine means lady of the manor or key holder. Locals in France call her la chatelaine, as she lives "au chateau" which was a dream come true. In 2009 she started collecting jewelry and as winters are very slow in this part of the world, she went back to school to learn more about precious stones. Originally, she studied journalism, but never worked as a journalist, instead she worked for 10 years in PR and promotions and 10 years in renovating a run down chateau and running it as a venue for functions. She blogs about her ‘trouvailles’, amazing auction results and interesting exhibitions.
Catherine Varoucha
For Catherine Varoucha art has always been her true passion, and every forms of art has captivated her since early childhood. With a desire to explore how science and technology can be used to change skylines that form our cities and to improve the performance of buildings both socially and environmentally, she studied architecture which allowed her to engage both creatively and scientifically with the aesthetic and functional aspects of design.
Christopher Wren once said, 'Architecture aims at eternity' and Catherine can think of no better way to achieve eternity than to help create buildings of tomorrow that preserve the ideas of today. Ultimately, we are judged by what we leave behind.
Inspired by minimal architecture of the Cyclades in Greece and in particular of Naxos, Catherine works in close collaboration with the editor-in-chief and with the creative director-at-large, to create the uniquely powerful visual and textual storytelling, which combined to a minimal and clean design offers to our precious readers from around the globe a unique reading experience.
Catherine works closely with the editor-in-chief for the visual identity of the magazine and website.
Panayota Vraka
Panayota is the youngest member of our team. Passionate with jewellery and timepieces she joined our team as a social media partner and columnist. She works mainly on our social media in collaboration with other members of our team, but has also a column in the magazine.
If you stop by her office, you'll likely hear her music playing, mainly french music. With her positive energy and smile she likes to be active and her favourite activities tend to be those where she can enjoy the sunshine.
She is a graduate in French language and literature and her love for french literature and language are also visible. On her desk you will find always her favourite books from authors such as Marcel Proust, André Breton and Boualem Sansal.
You can see her column Showcase in every issue, with her choices from our official instagram account.
Lucas Samaltanos-Ferrier
Lucas Samaltanos-Ferrier had been working for many years in management as well in the international fashion industry as a model agent and image-maker, as well as a fashion director for a magazine.
With extensive knowledge in jewellery, backed up by studies at the internationally known Gemological Institute of America (GIA), studies of jewellery design in Florence in Italy, Certified Training in Sales Management at the Hellenic Management Association (EEDE) in Athens - one of the five largest Management Associations worldwide in terms of Membership and Activities - and a French literature and language graduate, he worked for few years as a custom-made jewellery & timepieces designer and gemologist, as well as a consultant for private collectors. During that period he also organized and teached seminars for jewellery and gemstone passionates.
Lucas grew-up in a multicultural environment. Since early childhood he has an enormous love and respect for those unique masterpieces that witness time, a unique Swiss savoir-faire. At the same time Lucas has a passion for France, a country known for its proud history and rich culture associated with sophistication and elegance, while he is passionate for purity, inspired from the purity and beauty of the Greek islands and sea. The history of Ancient Greece has been influential to western society up to our day and Lucas is a true history passionate. His passion for the Italian Renaissance motivated him to live in Italy for a period of time. He also has an important interest for Spain and Spain's tumultuous past and history. His choice to make Finland his home, was definitely also influenced by his love for quintessential Scandinavian minimalism & design. He travels a lot to southeast Asia, for the beauty and serenity of this region.
Growing and living in a multicultural environment, he developed from an early age an understanding for different cultures and values and respect for those differences. A citizen of the world, he has lived for years in many countries and he speaks English, French, Greek, Finnish and Italian. He has also written many articles and made many interviews of important artists, fashion designers and met many important people, for interviews for websites and magazines.
With a passion for knowledge and critical inquiry, while searching new and innovative ways of delivering information that can resonate long after publication, combined to a uniquely powerful visual and textual storytelling, he decided to found in 2014 the Jewellery Historian, the first free press magazine exclusively focused on jewellery & timepieces. "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away", a quote by famous French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is what inspired Lucas and the philosophy of the magazine. The Jewellery Historian is today considered by many decision makers & connoisseurs as the "Best kept secret in the world of luxury". Our readership, has until now been accumulated only by word-of-mouth and in short time reached an international audience.
As an intellectually curious person, Lucas has a deep and persistent desire to learn and to know. This is why few years ago he decided to return to university, in order to follow his intellectual curiosity and to focus on specific research areas. Lucas holds a BA in French language and literature, a MA in French literature and culture. He is currently working on his PhD.
Lucas has a passion for nature, languages, creativity, art, design, fashion & art photography, literature, history, travels. He is regularly invited and participates in events as a speaker. A proud supporter of diversity and equality, he has been a volunteer for NGOs for many years.
Speaker bookings
Lucas Samaltanos-Ferrier, is regularly invited and participates as a guest speaker at conferences, corporate events, event industry conferences etc.
Lucas kindly accepts speaking engagements pro bono. For more information and bookings click here.