Dubai’s New Jeweller Group has launched 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 to receiving submissions from participants, aims to bring back the glory and prestige of heritage Arab jewellery that always enjoyed a place of pride for its intricate design and craftsmanship.

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 undergone significant changes and all the designs that are created today use cutting-edge technology and state-of the-art machine tools during the production process.

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 designs.

Contestants can log on to heritagejewellerydesign.comto participate. The registration forms are available online and upon filling it, a code will be generated and each applicant can work on their design. The competition is now open and will close on September 20. 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.

“Design is a key driver for growth in the gem and jewellery industry. In Asia, jewellery is an integral part of the culture,” says Nirupa Bhatt, managing director for GIA India & Middle East and a judge on the panel.

“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 and 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 the panel of judges; and look forward to seeing the creative work of talented designers from this region.”

Tamjid Abdullah, deputy CEO of Jawhara Jewellery, said: "Today, if we look at our region’s heritage and jewellery treasure over the last century, we find that we were fortunate to have beautiful lines of jewellery for all kinds of occasions, especially, weddings. These type of jewellery has been neglected after the introduction of European and Far Eastern jewellery designs into our markets.

“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 jewellery. They find it interesting and realize that our traditional jewellers had their own touch and taste in jewellery; and they like it. The ‘Jawhara Heritage Jewellery Design Competition and Awards’ can trigger youth to re-develop 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 it through this competition,” Abdullah added. – TradeArabia News Service