LAHORE ( HAFEEZ REPORT )
15 students from Department of Jewellery Design and Gemological Sciences of Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design displayed their work in an exhibition titled ‘Stone as a Material, Stone as a Concept.’
The inauguration ceremony was done by PIFD Vice Chancellor Prof. Hina Tayyaba and Prof. Dabir Ahmed.
A two week workshop was conducted with Patricia Domingues, a German-based contemporary jeweler for these students which is now culminate into an exhibit display.
The workshop aimed to be a guiding and experimental process for students from 5th and 7th Semester to come into contact with diverse hard and soft materials such as clay and plaster, as well as gemstones and minerals, as thought processes and medium to awaken instinctual reactions when handling and encountering diverse materials.
Students also undertook a site visit to Khewra Salt Mines with Patricia Domingues, along with selected faculty members in the Jewellery department to explore materials in the context of geological processes and time.
The intensive two weeks workshop was the first of its kind in Jewellery Department at PIFD to expose students to more open ended and intuitional ways of studying and responding to the properties of materials, especially gemstones, marbles, using diverse handtools and lapidary machines. With Pakistan’s North, such as Gilgit and Baltistan, known to be rich in occurrence of various minerals and gemstones deposits, the workshop also aim to provide potential ground for future collaboration and experimentation to expand Pakistan’s gemstones and lapidary sector.
While talking to Mr. Aslam, Course Coordinator of Department of Jewellery Design and Gemological Sciences said, “This was the first ever effort to create awareness of merging semi-precious stones into wearable jewellery elements by the students of pifd. All the students’ processed different coloured gemstones of their choice and shaped these into designs of their choice under the supervisions of the visiting foreign jewellery designer. This is a much needed effort to support export of gemstones products with substantial value addition in foreign exchange as well as to create opportunities of self-employment for pifd students, after graduation.”
Patricia Domingues is the winner of Talente and Mari Funaki Award for Contemporary Jewelry: she brings to the workshop a thoroughly intuitive sensibility of encountering and thinking with materials. Her own work, which also addresses geological processes and their core qualities of shift, time and values also activates the theme of workshop.