Gem and Jewellery Institute awards aim to help advance Thai industry internationally

Nevertheless, in order to find gem faceting masters to further support Thai craftsmanship achieving a global standard, the Gem and Jewellery Institute of Thailand Public Organisation (GIT) is hosting their first-round selections for their 13th World Jewellery Design Awards 2019, together with the final-round selections for the Gems Faceting Master 2019 award, with cash prizes worth a total of Bt1 million and an honoured trophy.
GIT recently selected eight jewellery designs from around the world to compete in the contest.

The Design Awards will be hosted this year under the theme of “Blue by Day, Green by Evening, Red by Night” focusing on red, blue and green jewellery, Duangkamol Jiambutr, director of the institute, revealed on Monday.
As well, GIT’s World Gems Challenge Faceting Master 2019 will be separated into two categories – Chantiburi Lapidary and General Lapidary. The objective is to open up an opportunity for lapidaries to further develop their skills to match the global standard and to win cash prizes.

“This year, the institute received a total of 660 jewellery design submissions from all around the world, [broken down into a total of] 557 design submissions from Thailand and 103 design submissions from 14 countries around the world,” Duangkamol said.

For the first-round selections, the institute is honoured to have five judges for the GIT’s 13th World Jewellery Design Awards 2019 –Supatra Srisook, a design expert and advisor to the Gem and Jewellery Institute of Thailand; Siriporn Panupong, a former Ambassador to Vienna and the vice president of Royal Law; ML Kathathong Thongyai, an aadcemic expert; Asst Professor Veeeawat Sirivesmas PhD, the deputy dean for academic affairs at the faculty of decorative arts, Silpakorn University; and Suriyon Sriorathaikul, the managing director of Beauty Gems Factory and Beauty Gems Group of Companies.

The judges have selected a total of 30 designs for two categories of awards – the Ruby (red) or Sapphire (blue) or a semi-precious stone with a similar shade for a total of 15 designs; and Peridot (green) or a semi-precious stone with a similar shade for a total of 15 designs. From the 15 designs of each type, the judges will select four designs with the highest score (for a total of eight designs) to transform their jewellery designs into actual jewellery pieces, to be further select in the final round on September 27.
The Institute would has also invited the public to vote for their favourite design piece from among the selected 30 designs via www.gitwjda.com. The designs with the largest number of votes will win the Popular Design Awards 2019, with cash prizes worth Bt30,000. Participating voters will also have a chance to win an authentic gemstone jewellery piece.

In the Challenge Gems Faceting Master 2019, the competition is also separated into two categories, with accompanying prizes –Chanthaburi Lapidaries and General Lapidaries. The institute has received a total of 82 gemstones in submissions from lapidaries around the world, including a total of 22 gemstones for the Chanthaburi Lapidaries Prize and 60 gemstones for the General Lapidaries Prize.
An awarding ceremony will be hosted by the Institute for the winner and finalist of GIT’s 13th World Jewellery Design Awards and the Challenge Gems Faceting Master 2019. An exhibition from the participants will be held on December 4 as part of the International Chanthaburi Gems and Jewellery Festival 2019 in Chanthaburi province.
The institute hopes that the competition will play a crucial role in developing design and lapidary skills, in an effort to guide them into the gems and jewellery industry and help the Thai industry find a place at the centre of the gem and jewellery trade and production, Duangkamol said.
The training centre can be reached at (02) 634 4999, ext 301-313.