Mr. Nizam Peters,
Founder, Director/Senior Instructor

At the age of sixteen Mr. Peters was studying painting and sculptor at the University of Perugia in Italy. By the age of twenty one he had obtained diamond training through residency at numerous factories and from individual master diamond cutters in South America, Europe and North America. He staked his first claims in the alluvial diamond fields of Venezuela and Guyana including supervising diamond mining operations in South America.

Mr. Peters is an accomplished diamond cutter who is versed in all aspects of diamond manufacturing. His diamond cutting ability has earned him a reputation for cutting and polishing unusual shapes and difficult crystals. He is known as a specialist in fancy cuts and had the honor in 1985 to cut the worlds largest Barion cut diamond. He has been the superintendent of two separate diamond cutting factories and president of a successful retail jewelry store for eleven years.

Mr. Peters is also an inventor in which he has acquired patents on the Universal Cone Generator, a major labor saving machine for large production factories. In recent years Mr. Peters has photographed and authored the first books written on rough diamonds. Both books detail dramatic and unique photographs on rough crystals. He is the first to classify rough diamonds in a system that can be easily understood by the layman. He has introduced to the industry new and descriptive terminology for both rough and finished diamonds.

Mr. Peters arrived in the United States twenty seven years ago and established the American Institute of Diamond Cutting in 1980. Today it is an internationally recognized school dedicated to teaching the art of diamond cutting and rough diamond grading. He is in demand as a lecturer and is a consultant for major companies and government projects in several African countries, Mr. Peters still considers himself a student in the field of diamonds.

Stephen Hofer
Instructor/Fancy Colored Diamond Program 

Stephen Hofer began his career in the earth sciences in 1976 as a geophysicist at the University of Connecticut. He went on to study for the GG, the graduate gemologist in residence diploma at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), graduating at the head of his class in August of 1979. After graduation he accepted a position as a Research Gemologist with the GIA Research Department, specializing in the study of colored diamonds and the interaction of light and gem materials. In 1982 Stephen completed the requirements for the FGA, Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, graduating with distinction. Mr. Hofer is an accomplished colored diamond cutter, and a graduate of the American Institute of Diamond Cutting (AIDC).  In 1987 Stephen flew to Geneva, Switzerland in July to document the authenticity of a historically significant colored diamond for a private client. In September he returned there to accompany a colored diamond collector who was participating in the Argyle Tender, an invitation only event where participants enter sealed bids in an effort to purchase a limited selection of polished pink diamonds from the Argyle mine in Northwestern Australia. In 1988 Stephen was invited by Dr. John White, the former Curator of Gems and Minerals at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. to perform a detailed examination of the color of the famous 45.52-carat Hope blue diamond. In 1989 he was asked to document the famous 260-stone Aurora Collection of colored diamonds currently on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. This labor of love involved seven years of research and writing, culminating in a massive 10 pound, 742-page book, that features over 700 color illustrations. Mr. Hofer has lectured extensively on the subject of color in diamonds. He was one of sixty featured speakers at the 1981 International Gemological Symposium in Los Angeles in 1982, speaking on Natural Fancy Color Diamonds. He presented a paper at the 1991 International Gemological Symposium regarding the measurement of color in diamonds using scientific methods. He has published numerous technical papers in scientific journals and industry magazines, along with writing a quarterly column on colored diamonds for New York Diamonds magazine and Les Joyaux magazine in Japan.

Leslie Peters

Diamond cutter/Rough Specialist

      Mr. Leslie Peters started his training in the fine art of diamond cutting and polishing, at the age of fifteen. He grew up in the Diamond business working at A.I.D.C. Inc. He is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University with a degree in International Business.

      Mr. Leslie Peters has contributed greatly in the research and development of new technology for the manufacturing of colored diamonds. His duties at A.I.D.C. includes field operations in the purchase of rough diamonds, consulting, marketing, and the cutting and polishing of fancy color diamonds.