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| Sunday, 4 May 2003 |
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Competition to showcase creativity of jewellery designers The Sri Lanka Jewellery Design Awards 2002 and the launch of the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Web Portal was held in Colombo recently. Chairman Export Development Board (EDB) Ratna Sivaratnam said the EDB commenced a program of design development, having identified the over-dependency of Lankan jewellery exporters on designs supplied by the buyers. One activity identified under this program was a jewellery design competition. To identify the design talents in Sri Lanka, the EDB conducted the first ever Sri Lanka Jewellery Design Competition in 1990. The 2002 competition is the fifth and is looked forward to by young jewellery designers. The web portal, www.Lanka.jewels.com is a joint effort of the EDB, the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association, the National Gem and Jewellery Authority and the USaid-funded Competitiveness Initiative. The first web portal for the gem and jewellery industry presents a consolidated image and gives information on the industry. The EDB and the Gem and Jewellery Authority will promote the portal in overseas fairs and other events in which Sri Lanka participates, said Sivaratnam. Minister of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy and Investment promotion Prof. G. L. Peiris, who was the chief guest, said that value addition is most important if we are to develop the gem and jewellery industry. "A problem regarding the trade is that we still export a large proportion of our stones in uncut form, deliberately minimising the profits that we receive by exporting gems. "If we cut these stones, we can increase our profits many times. If we work on them still further, if we rescind them, if we make jewellery out of them, then we can make may be 30 times of the profits that we are making today. Value addition is really the foundation of industrial development in Sri Lanka. "Value addition is also important from the point of view of creating employment opportunities for our people. Why should we simply rely on designs which are prepared by others and our craftsmen work according to designs which do not reflect their creativity when there is so much creativity among our people," he said. "We must develop our own designs by adopting a proper, systematic approach. We have to introduce programs in educational institutions, form vocational programs in this regard to produce our own designs and reward and encourage young people who have the creativity and expertise to come up with these designs." The minister added that we also need to promote brand consciousness. "The EDB, under Mr. Sivaratnam, has decided to promote brand consciousness in respect of Sri Lanka's Sapphire of which the quality is recognised all over the world. So if we are in a position to promote that consciousness all over the world, that would be a moral booster for the gem industry," he said. The jewellery design competition was conducted in three segments: Ceylon Sapphire Jewellery, Japanese Jewellery Design Collection and Diamond Jewellery Design Collection under amature and professionals categories. Over 200 competitors took part in the event. |
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