The daughter of a watchmaker, and heir to a house founded in 1955 by her parents Jean-Claude and Rita on boulevard Monk in Montreal, Carmen Rivet spent nearly forty years making Bijouterie Rivet in Saint-Lambert far more than an address — a landmark.

A Graduate Gemologist from the GIA with highest distinction, a teacher at Collège de Maisonneuve for twelve years, and co-architect of Quebec’s CEGEP gemmology program, she trained an entire generation of professionals before she had even finished building her own legacy. A court-appointed appraiser for the RCMP, the Sûreté du Québec and the SPVM, she has also served as an expert witness — proof that in this industry, her word has always carried its weight in gold.

On the national stage, she became in 2004 the first Quebec woman to serve as President of the Canadian Jewellers Association. Her tenure brought concrete victories: the abolition of the federal excise tax on jewellery, and Canada’s representation on the world stage at CIBJO. Along the way, she visited diamond and gold mines in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa at the invitation of DeBeers — a journey that belongs to her alone.

A member of the Canadian 24KT Club, director of the Canadian Diamond Code of Conduct, and Vice-President of the Canadian Diamond Value Centre — the distinctions are many, but it is the Chairman’s Award, presented in 2022 by the Canadian Jewellers Association, that perhaps best captures what she represents: a career devoted entirely to the ethics, expertise and reputation of an industry.

This year, Carmen Rivet begins a new chapter. Knowing her, it will be brilliant.

We wish her everything she has given to others — passion, excellence, and a little sparkle.