The Thuthuka Jewellery & Product Development skills Programme is a partnership between the Department of Arts and Culture and various jewellery design schools, industry and community groups with the aim of encouraging and developing young designers who wish to enter the jewellery trade in South Africa.
The fourth annual Thuthuka Jewellery Exhibition will take place at the University of Johannesburg from 12 to 26 October 2011.
Members of the media are invited to attend the Awards ceremony that will take place on 11 October and is hosted by the Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Paul Mashatile.
The details of the events are as follows:
Date: 11 October 2011
Time: 18h00 for 18h30
Keynote speaker: Minister Paul Mashatile
Venue: University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, Kingsway Campus, Auckland Park
The programme has grown over the last four years and in 2011, the participating jewellery schools are the University of Johannesburg Jewellery Design Department, the Ekurhuleni Jewellery School, the Central University of Technology Jewellery School and a community outreach facility located in Virginia (Free State).
Thuthuka focuses on radically upskilling the design talents in community jewellery schools. Historically students in these schools were trained primarily as bench workers to feed the jewellery manufacturing industry with only limited attention given to design, yet an extraordinary pool of talent exists in these schools.
Thuthuka aims to harness this talent and nurture a unique, South African aesthetic in contemporary jewellery design. Originality, innovation and excellence are the main objectives.
With the Department of Arts and Culture’s focus on job creation in the cultural industries, the Thuthuka project teaches participants to apply an array of production techniques, in particular the design skills learnt and to sue these skills in the design of homeware and tableware as well as unique jewellery. The intention is also to expose the young participants to other income generation possibilities.
The programme is rolled out via a series of intensive workshops and training sessions for the participating students, to facilitate rapid learning exchange, and empowers students wanting to design contemporary jewellery, with competitive design skills. In order to ensure a competitive edge, the programme also challenges students to think outside the box by transforming original jewellery design into various home ware items that are required to have both design merit and function applications.
Last year’s students were required to convert their designs into original table-ware while in 2011 they have explored the field of lighting design. These initial designs can be seen for the first time at the Thuthuka exhibition.
Every year the entrants are given a theme to create their pieces. This year the entrants were asked to design a button, and integrate it into a piece of jewellery and a lifestyle item. The competition has gained a reputation amongst jewellery design students, and the public as a benchmark for innovation and excellence in this industry.
The best winning designs are awarded prizes in the form of the tools essential to the jeweller’s craft, which are often beyond the reach of students in grassroots projects, and signify the means to create more beautiful jewellery for sale.
The competing categories are: New Talent Award, Innovation Award, Achievement award and New Product Award-Lighting. This year a People’s Choice Award has been added to invite public participation and feedback. Visitors to the exhibition and the public at large will be invited to vote for their favourite design on the show.
The Thuthuka Jewellery & Homeware Design exhibition opens on 12 October 2011 and runs until 26 October 2011 at the UJ Art Centre, Kingsway Campus.
RSVP for attendance at the awards ceremony: Carol at 011 726 2502 or 011 483 8844 083 653 5540 or email: thuthuka@mweb.co.za or carolross@mweb.co.za
For more information, contact:
Lisa Combrinck
Cell: 082 821 4886
Percy Mthimkulu
Cell: 082 389 2684
