Over 20,000 Jewellers Around The World Tap into GemIQ to Make The “Impossible” Possible

10 Nov 2026

GemIQ, the jewellery technology company formerly known as Picup Media, gives jewellers the ability to take professional true-to-life jewellery photography with a smartphone. 

The product is both hardware – including the world’s first jewellery smartphone lightbox – and software, and it’s used by more than 20,000 jewellers across over 100 countries.

Jewellers place a piece in a GemLightbox, point a smartphone or the GemCam Pro (the only camera built specifically for jewellery) at it, and tap once. There is no photographer, professional camera or photography skill needed. There aren’t even buttons or dials, meaning there is no learning curve for busy jewellers. That one tap captures still images and 360° video with true colour and detail.

GemIQ’s software (included in the price of the hardware) then handles the work jewellers least enjoy: automated jewellery descriptions that identify the metal, cut and stone, one-click publishing to Shopify, the preferred e-commerce platform for many jewellers worldwide, and shareable branded catalogues that turn any collection into a polished, logo-ready page to send to clients in a couple of clicks. It also integrates with industry systems including RapNet and The Edge. An optional paid feature goes a step further, with modelling and lifestyle shots that match the jeweller’s brand theme.

The product suite runs from the advanced GemLightbox Max to the compact GemLightbox Mini, a smartphone jewellery studio launched this year, lowering the barrier to entry for smaller retailers. 

William Chu, GemIQ Founder and CEO said,

“Jewellery is incredibly difficult to photograph, and online the images and videos have to do the selling before a customer can touch or try on a piece. When I took my parents’ business online, jewellers had two options: a $20 lightbox that wasn’t built for jewellery, or a $20,000 studio that was too complex for everyday use. Nothing was built around how jewellers actually work, so we built it.”

Chu says jewellers were sceptical at first,

“People told me it was impossible to replace a professional photographer with a smartphone. You truly don’t believe it until you see it with your own eyes. Today, more than 20,000 jewellers do exactly that.”

Chu, a 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia listee, grew up in his family’s jewellery business, spending school holidays in the family’s Hong Kong factory. Then Picup Media, the business originally started as a retouching service, but Chu found that no amount of retouching can fix a poor original photo. He built the first GemLightbox from acrylic at a small Sydney factory and took it door to door. It sold out at its first trade show, then caught on across the US after he spent a month door-knocking in New York’s Diamond District. Picup Media has since rebranded as GemIQ, reflecting a platform that spans capture software and e-commerce software to streamline the entire workflow from end to end.

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Source: GemIQ