LAHORE-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. HinaTayyaba and Prof. Dabir Ahmed.
A two week workshop was conducted with Patricia Domingues, a German-based contemporary jeweler for the students which are 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.