Right from his childhood in Geneva, Marc developed a passion for minerals and gemstones. He soon flew away to numerous destinations in Asia and Africa and landed for the first time in Madagascar in 1992.
In 1996, after several round trips, he decided to settle in Madagascar permanently. The main idea was to mine pegmatite (beryl), but he was confident to make other discoveries as well.
With his burning pasions,Marc is as an autodidact who soon became a trader-gemologist and a lapidary. Established since the year 2000 in Ilakaka, Marc unquestionably started as a raw gemstone buyer, but rapidly started to do the cutting by himself. Later, he created his own lapidary workshop.
He immediately understood that this deposit field had a particularity: it produces sapphires that cover the entire colour range of the rainbow, and this uniqueness had to be valued. This is is how the notorious “rainbow sapphire line” was created and became the symbol of this new deposit field, contributing to its fame and reputation.
In Ilakaka, Colorline is the only tourist operator. This town, which developed spontaneously due to the presence of sapphires, is entitled to be better known and better understood. This would not have been attainable without the constant support of the hotel owners of « Le Relais de la Reine » and « Le Jardin du Roy », who are the key actors of an immersed and environment friendly ( sans trait d’union) tourism.