Shining Light award winners announced

Staff reporter - De Beers Group announced the winners of the 2016/17 Shining Light Awards: The De Beers Young Jewellery Designers Skills Development Initiative, at a red-carpet event at the Country Club last week Thursday.

The awards, which recognise and celebrate emerging jewellery designers in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, provide entrants with a valuable platform to build their careers in the jewellery design industry.

Entrants were required to design commercially-viable jewellery collections that demonstrated an artistic interpretation of this year’s theme, ‘Protecting Nature’s Beauty’. The theme was chosen by Forevermark, the diamond brand from De Beers Group, in recognition of the company’s commitment to biodiversity, conservation and sustainability.

Finalists from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa were selected from more than 130 entries for their outstanding jewellery designs and unique interpretation of the theme. Following the final judging, the winners from each country are Mbako Baraedi (Botswana), Richardlee Shoombe (Namibia) and Andile Mbeje (South Africa).

Shoombe enrolled at the age of 12 at the Arts Performance Centre at Tsumeb. He sees himself as a visual arts educator and loves learning. His collection, "It Begins with Us", drew inspiration from the idea that human emotions can be a driving force for artistic expression and positive change, especially towards protecting nature.

For Namibia, Frans Uunona was the first runner-up, while Taleni Udeiko was named as second runner-up.

The first-place winners will receive a 12-month apprenticeship at the Forevermark Design and Innovation Centre in Milan, Italy, where they will have the opportunity to work alongside jewellery designers with one of the world’s fastest growing diamond brands.

The first runners-up will receive a three-month internship at the same Forevermark Design and Innovation Centre, while the second runners-up will be enrolled in a jewellery design skills development programme at a local university.

Opportunity

Pat Dambe, the vice-president of corporate affairs and government relations at the De Beers Global Sightholder Sales, said that the winners would have an opportunity to advance their skills.

“We are delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Shining Light Awards, which provide a fantastic platform for emerging jewellery designers in southern Africa to showcase their skills, and which plays an important role in nurturing design talent in diamond-producing countries. Each winner will now have the opportunity to further advance their skills through industry exposure and training, and we can’t wait to see where the future takes them,” said Dambe.

Stephen Lussier, the executive vice-president for marketing at the De Beers Group and CEO of Forevermark, said the winners would have the opportunity to work alongside the best designers in the world.

“Through the Shining Light Awards, Forevermark is pleased to support the careers and learning experiences of emerging jewellery designers from southern Africa, and provide them with the opportunity to gain valuable insights into the global jewellery design industry by working alongside designers at one of the world’s fastest growing diamond brands,” said Lussier.