10 Years of the “European Open” Hosted by the Swiss Facetters' Guild
July 7, 2026
The Swiss Faceters’ Guild invites faceters from around the world to participate in the 2026 European Open, which this year is dedicated to the theme stone, topaz. This long-standing competition offers the opportunity to showcase one’s skills to an international audience and to compete against the best cutters in Europe and beyond. The submitted stones will be exhibited at the Munich Show and judged by fair visitors.
Both amateur and professional cutters are eligible to participate; each person may submit one stone. Faceted stones that meet the specifications outlined in the call for entries are eligible. Judging is based on the “Like” principle, focusing on creativity, precision, and the stone’s overall impact.
Medals, certificates, and cash prizes await the winners for the top three places. In addition, the competition offers the opportunity to network internationally and present one’s work to a knowledgeable audience.
Important: Registration and submission of competition stones must take place within the deadlines specified in the official call for entries, from September 10 to October 10, 2026. Anyone who wants to showcase their cutting skills and become part of a unique international community of faceters should not miss this opportunity.
The exact terms and conditions, the competition theme, and all deadlines can be found in the official call for entries for the “European Open 2026.”
Call for Entries
About the Swiss Faceters’ Guild
The Swiss Faceters’ Guild was founded in January 2016 as an association under Swiss association law. Prior to that, a group of faceters had been meeting monthly for years to exchange experiences and knowledge, and to nurture and promote their shared interests in the common hobby of “gemstone faceting.” Workshops were also organized, during which participants would, for example, work on a faceted gemstone or explore drawing software. Of course, socializing was also a priority, and so such events would often conclude with a glass of Prosecco. This wine had been aged and stored in a blue bottle, which gave one participant the idea that perhaps bottle glass could also be faceted.
Since facetters are, by nature, creative people, we shouldn’t stop at just this idea—it should become something special, such as holding a competition to judge the pieces created. So it was decided that such a competition would be held at the next meeting in Villingen-Schwenningen, where faceters from Munich, southern Germany, and Switzerland had been gathering for a weekend for several years to exchange knowledge and experience. Since a glass bottle was specified as the object to be worked on, this competition was named the “Bottle Contest.” The entries were judged by the participants at the faceting meet under the motto “what do I like best.” Twenty-two participants submitted their imaginative cuts.
Spurred by this success, the Swiss faceters’ group decided to organize further competitions in the future. To provide an organizational framework for this endeavor, they decided to found an association called the “Facettierer-Gilde Schweiz.” In the years that followed, additional competitions were organized along the same lines under the name “European Open,” with only the material being specified—alternating between natural stones (quartz in 2016 and topaz in 2018) and synthetic stones (cubic zirconia in 2017).
In 2019, the Munich Show provided a booth for the Faceters’ Guild for the first time. The first “European Open” featured “Synth. Spinel” as the theme stone. Visitors to the booth served as the jury, rating 5 stones on a scale of 1 to 5. A total of 18 stones were submitted, clearly demonstrating the diversity of faceting. Since then, the competition has established itself as a fixture at the Munich Show, with 91 stones already submitted in 2025.