A life long love of pearls and the drama of Wisteria Lane has seen jewellery student Michiyo Kikuchi take out the ‘Desperate Housewives’ category at the prestigious national AGR Matthey jewellery design competition.
The Central TAFE Diploma of Jewellery Design student was inspired by the emotion of the TV drama to create her winning piece, a pair of gold and pearl drop earrings.
“The program Desperate Housewives contains the whole range of emotions that exist between the negative and the positive,” said Michiyo who took three weeks to create her masterpiece.
“Nothing is what it seems to be, there is always something hidden or undisclosed. Within my earring design, the gold wires express changeable and unpredictable emotions. The earrings are quite large, which represents the quest for wealth, status and beauty that is portrayed in the program.”
“Pearls are made by living creatures who overcome the distress and irritation of the grain of sand to produce the multiple layers that give the pearl its strength and beauty,” she said.
“In my design I’ve used the pearls to symbolise how people develop through the difficulties of life.”
Michiyo’s love from pearls stems from years of working as a pearl wholesaler. She begun designing jewellery five years ago and is hoping to eventually start selling her designs.
“I’ve always loved jewellery and through studying at Central TAFE I have learned the skills and techniques to bring my ideas to life.”
“I find jewellery design really satisfying and winning in the AGR Matthey Awards has given me confidence in my work and inspired me to create more designs.”
The influential awards, run by Australia’s largest jewellery manufacturer AGR Matthey, recognise excellence and innovation in the area of gold design and aim to develop young talent, ensuring the availability of unique jewellery in Australia.
The awards were judged by a panel of leading Australian jewellery and design experts including Chief Executive of Shiels and Grahams Jewellers, Albert Benison; General Manager of Percy Marks, Cameron Marks; interior designer, Jean-Pierre Heurteau; Channel Seven Network Stylist Rachel Dennis; and milliner, Peter Jago.
The awards attracted more than 200 design sketches from which only 25 where selected as finalists, and provided with materials to create their designs.
Central TAFE Executive Director of Creative Industries, Julie Zappa, said that Michiyo’s achievement was a reflection of the cutting edge training provided by Central TAFE.
“Central TAFE’s new jewellery design workshops are among the best in the country and provide students, such as Michiyo, with the industry standard equipment, skills and knowledge to unleash their creativity and succeed in this competitive industry.”
Central TAFE’s jewellery design courses provide specialist training to work as a contemporary design-maker of jewellery and decorative objects and prepare students for a creative career in a small studio business or collaborative venture.