Worker With A Heart For Gold
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday February 16, 1993
Jaemes Collingwood has spent 22 hours at Darling Harbour in the past three days turning 53 grams of shapeless 18-carat-gold into a five centimetre by two centimetre dress brooch. And now he wants a medal.
Mr Collingwood, 21, of Adelaide, is one of eight national finalists of the Work Skill Australia competition competing for the chance to represent Australia at the International Youth Skill Olympics to be held in Taiwan in July.
A fourth-year apprentice with Saunders Manufacturing Jewellers, of Adelaide, Mr Collingwood completed a four-month silversmith course at 14 and decided to pursue a career in jewellery.
When asked about his favourite material the answer was unequivocal: "Eighteen-carat yellow (gold)."
Using a single design and $10,000 worth of gold, each of the finalists, from all over Australia, was required to fashion the brooch from five pieces of gold cut into a variety of basic geometrical shapes.
The work was judged by two former silver-medal winners: Paul Vanzetti, who won a silver medal in Amsterdam in 1991, and Celeste Careedy, who won silver at the 1988 competition, hosted by Australia. She also designed the brooch for this competition.
The brooches were judged on six criteria: accuracy of measurement, interpretation of the original drawing, saw work, sanding, finishing and economy of metal use. A winner is expected to be announced this morning.
The International Youth Skill Olympics is attended by 22 countries with 48 categories of competition in engineering, hospitality, metal trades, building, wood patternmaking and textiles design and production. While the Olympic event will be held under one roof, the national finals have been taking place all over Australia, involving 6,000 young Australians.
The hospitality industry finals were held at the ACT School of Tourism in Canberra from January 30 to February 7 and the engineering finals were held last week at the Sydney Institute of Technology. The building and construction finals are being held in Melbourne this week and 50 metal trades workers will compete at Kembla Grange near Wollongong in the first week of March.
Graphic reproduction, hairdressing, electronics and garment production are some of the other national finals to be held during the next two months.
© 1993 Sydney Morning Herald
