Jawhara's competition aims to bring back glory of heritage Arab jewellery

Tamjid Abdullah, deputy CEO of Jawhara Jewellery.

The New Jeweller Group has announced the launch of the first edition of Jawhara Heritage Jewellery Design Competition & Awards - powered by GIA, the World's Foremost Authority in Gemology. This first of its kind competition which is now open for participants, aims to bring back the glory and prestige of heritage Arab jewellery that always enjoyed a place of pride when it comes to intricate design and craftsmanship.
Arab world and the GCC region boasts culture and traditions that dates centuries, and this includes the region's heritage jewellery that has maintained its ethnicity and charm throughout the years. Even today a number of jewellers and jewellery makers take inspiration and sell heritage jewellery which demands a premium price. The UAE, especially Dubai, the biggest consumer market for jewellery in the entire GCC region, has experienced growth in demand for heritage jewellery because of the exquisiteness of the pieces intricately manufactured by talented artisans of the region.
Jawhara Heritage Jewellery Design Competition & Awards is a one of its kind competition that is launched to provide a unique platform for the young jewellery designers of the region to demonstrate their talent and excellence in "Jewellery Designing". The competition gives an opportunity to budding and established jewellery designers and inspires them to work on heritage jewellery designs with a blend of modernity. With the advent of technology, jewellery making has gone through a significant change and it is but natural that all the designs that are created today use cutting-edge technology and state-of the-art machine tools during the production process.
This competition will attract exquisite heritage jewellery designs with a blend of modernity. The competition gives all the applicants a reason to be associated with 'Heritage' which is the soul of the Arab world and create wearable jewellery designs inspired by heritage jewellery creations. With this launch the competition is open to aspiring jewellery designers.
Each aspiring contestant can log on to www.heritagejewellerydesign.com. The registration forms are available online and upon filling the same, a code will be generated that will enable each applicant to work on the heritage jewellery designs. The competition is now open and will close on September 20, 2017. Winning pieces are sponsored and manufactured by Jawhara, who is the presenter of this competition and award; and is also the UAE's and the world's leading wholesaler and retailer of exquisite jewellery.
"Today, if we look at our region's heritage and treasure of jewellery that we had over the last century, we find that we had a great fortune of beautiful jewellery lines for all kinds of occasions, especially, the wedding occasion. These type of jewellery has been neglected after the penetration of the European and the Far Eastern jewellery in to our markets and for some reason the younger generation does not prefer imported jewellery and have started digging into their grandmother's safes to wear some of the heritage style and find it interesting and realise that our traditional jewellers had their own touch and taste in jewellery making and that they like it. Therefore, the Jawhara Heritage Jewellery Design Competition and Awards can trigger the youth to redevelop and revive our heritage jewellery lines and bring it back to life. Above all we are very rich in heritage jewellery and it is a great idea to present this competition," said Tamjid Abdullah, deputy CEO of Jawhara Jewellery.
"Design is a key driver for growth of the gem and jewellery industry. In Asia, jewellery is an integral part of culture. Women adorn traditional jewellery on important occasions of life, like weddings. Middle Eastern cultures have a rich heritage and the Jawhara Heritage Jewellery Design Competition & Awards presents a great opportunity and platform for jewellery designers to introduce the Arab cultural heritage to the wonderful world of jewellery. I am honoured to be a part of judges' panel and look forward to seeing the creative work of talented designers from this region," said Nirupa Bhatt, managing director for GIA India & Middle East and an esteemed judge on the panel.