Alexander Riascos Portillo is an Industrial Designer who obtained his professional degree at the University of Nariño in the city of Pasto, Colombia. He focused his design experience in the field of artisan jewelry, together with the work and collaboration of a group of artisans from La Llanada Nariño, a region that depends on small-scale artisanal mining as the main economic activity.

Since 2013 he has been working for COODMILLA Ltda, the main mining cooperative in this region, which has gained great recognition for its efforts to promote socially and environmentally responsible community mining. In his role as Commercial Director, Alexander contributed to the promotion and export of COODMILLA gold to international markets — France and Switzerland mainly, but also to Germany and the United States. Thanks to the cooperative's continuous effort in the development of responsible mining and with the support of ARM (Alliance for Responsible Mining), the cooperative obtained Fairmined Certification, generating benefits in favor of the mining community, their families, and their workers, and promoting responsible and ethical gold.

Coodmilla's Fairmined Gold has been used for the elaboration of unique pieces such as the Palme d'Or of the Cannes film festival and the Nobel Peace Prize awarded in 2016 to former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos.

Currently Coodmilla, under the direction of Daniel Osvaldo Matabajoy Riascos, is working on the promotion of responsible gold under the CRAFT Code towards European markets.