Hans Durstling | Secord Gallery

A former TV news anchor and CBC Radio broadcaster, Hans Durstling became captured by the magic of gemstones around the mid-1980s. At that point he began serious cutting, including a stint in Los Angeles cutting for the then president of the American Opal Society. He went on to study gemology, and combined his background in communication with his interest in stone by writing for gem and general publications.

He initiated a teaching and demonstrating facility, The Electric Park Learning Center, at the world's top mineral and gem expo in Tucson, Arizona, and is the originator of a 7-hour Discovery Channel series "Stones of Fate and Fortune".

In the July 2016 Issue of Reader's Digest, he was featured for his recutting of gems salvaged from the Fort MacMurray fire.

Currrently based in Halifax, he offers gemstone recutting and repair, sourcing, assessment, and restoration of gems and other stone, and does private commissions in precious stone and/or precious metal.