Paul Lortie obtained a degree in engineering geology and geophysics in 1979. In the mid-1980s, Paul developed an interest in collecting minerals and fossils with the Columbia Gem & Mineral Society while working as a geophysicist for a mineral exploration company based in Camden, South Carolina. At that time his interest was shared with two other geologists and together they started a business buying, selling and trading minerals, gemstones and jewelry. After returning to Canada in late 1987 to work as a full-time consulting geophysicist, Paul continued his studies of colored gemstones with the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and established Collection Arkane in 1988 as part-time business to buy, sell and trade minerals, carved rocks, gemstones and jewelry and expand personal collections of fine minerals and gemstones. Business was first conducted through product presentations at customers' homes and, from 1992, also at trade shows in Quebec (Montreal and Quebec City) and later in Ontario (Bancroft, Ottawa and Toronto) until 2004. Over time, inventories of carved rocks, gemstones and jewelry were replaced only by fine minerals. Paul ceased the commercial activities of Collection Arkane in 2004 but continued to purchase fine minerals and precious stones for his personal collections. He continued to diversify in mineral classes with an emphasis first on sulfides and sulfosalts (class 2) and then on native elements and alloys (class 1). Subsequently, he began collecting type locality specimens. Since approximately 2010, Paul's collection has expanded to mineral pairs of crystals and gemstones, particularly Canadian gem minerals and 12-month calendar representative gemstones. In 2012, his wife Agathe Favreau relaunched the activities of Collection Arkane in order to help Paul sell the majority of his mineral collections and his inventory. Their son François joined the company's operations in 2015 with the goal of expanding business operations with a new website. Born in 1988, François was always exposed to his father's interest in minerals, particularly because Paul gave his three children the opportunity to build their own personal collections. The origin of the name Collection Arkane comes from Paul's idea to use the word rainbow in the name of his company. In French, the word arc-en-ciel translates to “rainbow”. While looking for a synonym for the word, Paul found the phonetic translation of the first two syllables of the word: “ar-kan”. The name Arkane means rainbow which expresses the concepts of prism (crystals and systems), light (visibility, clarity and quality; refraction, reflection, dispersion and polarization) and multicolor arc (color range of minerals and precious stones). For the website, Paul came up with a symbol constructed from his modification of a Polly T. White graphic that he found in the book (figure 64, page 42) “A Guide to Understanding Crystallography” by Jennie R Smith (1991). The design shows trigonal classes within the division of hexagonal prisms, again with emphasis on crystals and mineral and gemstone systems. After several years of development financed by Gestion Lofa, the new Lofa technological platform is now used by Collection Arkane to support its new website from 2024.

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