Jewellery & Gems
Taking village craftsmen to the world markets
![](../images/jewellery.jpg)
Melting
gold to mould ornaments. Pictures by J. Weerasekera |
By Quintus
Perera
Sri Lanka
may have carved a niche market for its gems and jewellery across
the world but for the country's smalltime craftsmen and their trade,
it's still a struggle to survive.
This is true
for the likes of Sudharma de Silva and generations of her family,
originally from Galle who have been turning out hand-made jewellery.
"Small scale entrepreneurs like us have been given little or
no assistance or encouragement by the state. Everything has to be
done by ourselves, with no financial assistance whatsoever,"
she said speaking to The Sunday Times at her modest home in Templers
Road, Mount Lavinia.
It may have
been due to the family affiliations with this industry that she
developed a liking to it since she was a young adult, particularly
in the designing process.
Starting off their business of gems and jewellery from small beginnings
in 1975, she developed it to a considerable extent by 1982 while
at the same time she underwent a course of training in jewelry designing
at the Institute of Jewellery Art and Designing in New York. She
now concentrates on exports with a little local business.
Ms. de Silva
often visits Galle where there are dozens of jewellery craftsmen
whose lifetime occupation is designing and turning out jewellery
from skills handed down by their ancestors. In addition to selecting
items from there, she also has a workshop in Dehiwela where around
15 are employed turning out all kinds of hand-made jewellery. Apart
from precious and semi-precious stones, she also deals with yellow
and white gold and diamond settings for very expensive ornaments.
She laments
that one of the biggest problems is the lack of support and understanding
for the art of hand-made jewellery, completely ignored by local
authorities. She says there are a large number of brilliant gold
smiths whose work could easily be sold in any part of the world.
"I sell some of their stuff straight from the village to international
buyers."
Finding it
difficult to break into the international market at first - also
due to lack of a support mechanism by the state - she relied on
the generosity of Hubert Jayakody, a Sri Lankan businessman, who
helped her showcase her products in exhibitions in places like Brisbane,
Canada, Japan and Australia. By 1990 she was able to attend exhibitions
with Export Development Board (EDB) sponsorship in New York, Las
Vegas, Japan and Germany. Her main buyers come from the US.
Current trends
globally show a liking for white gold and also conventional gold
settings. With annual sales in the region of two million rupees
with a portion going to the Gem Corporation, banks, insurance etc
and costs of foreign travel, Ms. de Silva is now more keen on the
jewellery industry as a hobby and past time rather than profiting
from it.
She is particularly
keen to improve the plight of traditional craftsmen many of whom
come from the south. In Galle, almost the entire village of Madapatha
is engaged in gold smithy with many of these villagers rarely benefiting
from the generous prices fetched overseas for their works of art.
Ms. de Silva
believes small scale gold smiths and jewellery makers should not
only be exposed to foreign markets but also exposed to the use of
modern equipment and provided adequate training. She has made several
appeals to commerce and trade ministers during various regimes without
success. "How can these poor people take part in exhibitions
when they have to pay for air fare which alone would cost around
Rs. 60,000 to 100,000 and staying in hotels is so costly,"
she added.
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