Three young Australian jewellers have been announced as the 2009 winners of The Kaiserman Prize.
Along with their trophies, Noha Khalaf, Carly Lampitt and Breanna Timmins, have been awarded studio space in South Yarra, gemstones from Affiliated Importers, tools from Australian Jewellers Supplies, pearls from Island Gemstones, precious metals from Peter W Beck and diamonds from Vital Diamonds – valued at approximately $7500 each.
The Kaiserman Prize was set up by
Kaiserman Jewellery managing director Simon Kaiserman in 2006 to help launch the careers of talented new jewellers.
Under the competition, students and recent graduates from jewellery courses at tertiary institutions around Australia submit a design for a piece of jewellery.
A judging panel of industry professionals then selects ten finalists who are required to produce their design and submit it for final judging. Items can be made from traditional materials such as gold, silver, precious stones or non-traditional materials such as titanium, rubber, timber, glass, etc.
In his presentation speech, Kaiserman praised all 10 finalists for the outstanding quality of their work and thanked the industry sponsors who help to make the prize so keenly sought after.
He said Noha Khalaf’s prize winning entry ‘The Donut’, a sterling silver pendant which can be taken apart to become a ring and a pair of earrings, was “well made and versatile” while Carly Lampitt’s sterling silver necklace which “displays the layered beauty of wings and expresses the free movement of flight” was a “beautifully shaped piece”.
In addition he described Breanna Timmins’s sterling silver pocket watch with three interchangeable lids and a wind- up watch movement as an “incredibly intense three dimensional work of great innovation”.
Khalaf and Timmins are both recent graduates of the Advanced Diploma of Engineering Technology (Jewellery) at NMIT while Lampitt has just completed her Advanced Diploma at Box Hill Institute of TAFE and Timmins.
The three prize winning jewellers will now begin work on jewellery pieces for their first exhibition which will be held at the Kaiserman showroom in October.
