FADA Gallery;
Bunting Road Campus, University of Johannesburg.
Date: Saturday 21
Feb 2015
Time: 10:30 - opening
11:30 – walkabout
RSVP: Wed 18 February.
011 726 2501
Young South
African contemporary jewellery designers come into their own
Adjudication for the 2014 Thuthuka
Jewellery Awards for young aspirant contemporary jewellers is completed. The
competition, in its seventh year, is supported by the partnership between the Department
of Arts and Culture and the Thuthuka Jewellery Development Programme.
The
intention of the Thuthuka Jewellery Awards is to showcase the best of South
Africa’s young up and coming jewellery designers, who are learning jewellery
making skills at community jewellery schools or at tertiary jewellery design
departments, and who have had the additional advantage of having been mentored
in contemporary design through the Thuthuka
Jewellery mentorship programme.
With a high number of entries from jewellery
design students across four provinces in South Africa, the Thuthuka Jewellery
Awards is established as the industry benchmark for innovation and excellence in
the design of contemporary handmade jewellery .
The 2014 competition focused on the
fashion industry and in particular on accessories, in this instance shoes,
aptly captured in the theme ‘Sho! Shoe Jewellery?’ Students have
been challenged to construct multifunctional contemporary pieces inspired by
the South African insect. Entrants were judged on how they interpreted the natural shapes, textures and
unique patterning of insects and translated these into multifunctional
jewellery pieces that can double up as shoe trimming, beautiful jewellery or
hair accessories.
Founder of the Thuthuka Development
Programme, Carola Ross, says, “With the fashion industry as the focal point for
this year’s competition, entrants have had to raise the level excellence in
both design innovation and manufacturing to create sturdy, wearable and
beautiful multifunctional handmade pieces. The standard of entries we have
received this year is testament to the critical insight students have gained
into the principles of contemporary design and public preference.”
According to Ross, the competition is
aimed at providing a platform for student jewellers to have their work
professionally showcased. The competition theme in the past has been aligned to
practical design-related industry sectors such as homeware, tableware, lighting
and now, fashion. The intention is that this additional experience could
ultimately broaden their employment opportunities. The exposure through the
annual Thuthuka Awards exhibition also benefits entrants in building an
industry profile and public interest in their work. Due to the growing popularity of the
competition among the South African design community and the broader public, the
work of the finalists will be showcased in an exhibition from at the FADA Gallery at the University of
Johannesburg, Bunting road Campus, Auckland Park, from Tuesday 17 February to 11 March 2015.
About
Thuthuka
The Thuthuka Jewellery Development Programme is a Gauteng-based peer mentorship
programme that provides a mentorship programme in jewellery design and manufacturing to
jewellery students from FET colleges and community jewellery schools across
four provinces in South Africa.University jewellery design students also
participate in the competition. The curriculum is focused on enhancing
innovation and excellence in the production of contemporary handmade jewellery.
The
Thuthuka Jewellery Awards is an
annual competition that provides a national platform for student jewellers to
have their work professionally showcased. Winning designs are awarded bursaries
as well as prizes in the form of the tools essential to the jeweller’s practice
to galvanise their entry into industry.
For more
information, please contact Carola Ross on:
Telephone: +27 11 726 2502
Mobile: + 27 83 653 5540
Email: carolaross@mweb.co.za
Website: www.thuthukajewellery.com
