Did you know
The most expensive piece of jewellery ever sold was a diamond ring known as the Graff Pink, which sold in 2010 for $46 million (1.5 billion baht).
Thai student designs a winner
By Suwitcha Chaiyong
Photos courtesy of
Gemological Institute of America
One way to build on the knowledge that you learn in the classroom is to enter competitions. At the recent Create Your Own Legacy competition arranged by the Gemological Institute of America, 20-year-old Thai student Nattawat Srinoon (Tum) won first prize. Tum is a jewellery design student at Silpakorn University’s Faculty of Decorative Arts.
“The competition was a once in a lifetime experience,” Tum said. “It allowed me to work with a jewellery entrepreneur, as well as learn how to design and produce jewellery professionally.”
THAI INSPIRATION
Tum named his winning design piece You Clothe Me, because he used woven fabric as a primary part of the design.
“When I was looking for inspiration for my design, I was thinking about something from our heritage that we should preserve,” Tum said. “I thought of Thai woven fabric because it looks intriguing as well as being part of our folk traditions and culture.”
LEARNING EXPERIENCE
It took Tum only four days to finish his design sketch, but during the process of making the necklace and earrings, he found that he had to make a few changes.
“Some parts of a necklace included complicated weaves which required a lot of time to produce, and we had limited time,” he said. “I had to make it less complicated, so I used a metal weave design instead of woven fabric.”
WINNING WEAVE
Once Tum’s design was produced as an actual accessory, the young designer was impressed with its beauty. The model who wore his design also complimented the designer, saying that the pieces were beautiful. Though Tum was pleased with his work, he was surprised to win first prize.
“I was happy just to be one of the five finalists, and I didn’t expect anything more than that,” he said. “I was speechless when my name was announced as the winner!”
WARP AND WEFT
Tum thinks that the texture of You Clothe Me was what made it stand out from the work of the other 297 competitors.
“The texture expressed my concept about Thai woven fabric very well, Tum said. “The design looked like weaving on a warp and weft, and when the model wore the accessories, it looked like woven fabric on her body.”
FUTURE IN FASHION
Tum said that he wants to build on his success by continuing to design accessories in the future.
“I’m interested in accessory design, but I’ll focus on fashion accessories rather than jewellery,” the winning designer said. “I think I can reach more consumers by designing fashion accessories.”
Vocabulary
- legacy (n): a situation that exists now because of events, actions, etc. that took place in the past
entrepreneur (n): a person who makes money by starting or running a business
weave (v): to make fabric, a basket, jewellery, etc. by crossing threads or strips across, over and under each other, either by hand or by using a machine called a loom
primary (adj): most important
heritage (n): the history, traditions and qualities that a country or society has had for many years and that are considered part of its character
folk (adj): traditional and typical of the ordinary people of a country or community
accessory (n): a thing that you can wear or carry that matches your clothes, such as a belt or bag
warp (n): the threads on a loom that other threads are passed over and under in order to make fabric
weft (n): the threads that are woven under and over the threads that are held on a loom
Idiom
once in a lifetime: a wonderful opportunity, etc. that you are not likely to get again
