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from Mohammed Rasooldeen in Riyadh

Ranjith Gamage, a Sri Lankan working for L'Azurde factory here won the award for best designer at the Gold Viruosi held in Italy which is considered to be the world's 'Oscars' for gold jewellery design. Gamage arrived here on Friday after attending the function sponsored by the World Gold Council and the Vicenza Fair.

On arrival here, Gamage told the Daily News that this year, the competition has proved to be more challenging than ever before with 34 of the world's best jewellery designers winning prestigious awards out of the 5,098 applicants who submitted their designs from 52 nations. The contest, he said, was designed to inspire unrestricted creativity, to promote excellence in jewellery, craftsmanship, to reward the winners with global acclaim and ultimately to expand the horizons of gold jewellery design worldwide.

This year's winners came from 15 nations from countries such as United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Turkey, Italy, Taiwan, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, United States, Indonesia, Poland, Korea, South Africa and Saudi Arabia. Thirty winners were honoured for design and creativity, three for innovative use of technology and one Bulgari 'Award of excellence' for exceptional ingenuity and creativity. Gamage is one of the three who received the award for innovative use of technology.

Gamage who has been working as a designer in the Kingdom for the past 20 years said that he initially got a diploma in jewellery design under the supervision of an European consultant at the Technical Academy in Colombo. He said the day he won the award was the happiest day in his life where more than 1,000 guests and 200 international journalists were present to cover the event. He said that the entries for the competition went through a panel of judges drawn from the world of design, fashion, art and the jewellery industry. Their collective experience, he said ensured that each entry was fairly judged across a wide variety of criteria.

Commenting on the competition itself, Gamage said that it highlighted emerging design trends, there was a noticeable eclectic blending of the opulence of the East with the refined elegance of the West. "Gold jewellery appeared to be breaking out of its traditional role as an accessory destined to be complemented an outfit, often becoming a more integral part of the outfit itself," he said. The prize winning designs will travel the globe visiting key world centres of influence such as New York, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

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