PlatAfrica is an annual jewellery design and manufacture competition that gives both upcoming and established South African jewellery designers the platform to showcase how creative they can get with platinum. Here’s everything you need to know about PlatAfrica 2018.

THE AWARDS

THE STORY OF

PLATINUM JEWELLERY

During the 1800s, silver was seen as the ideal complement to white diamonds, but jewellers soon found it had shortcomings. While it was easy to manipulate, it was also fragile and prone to bending out of shape. Platinum jewellery’s popularity rose in the late 19th century, as the strength and ductile nature of the metal became known – Platinum had all the aesthetic benefits of silver but with an enormous advantage: once platinum cools, it is nearly indestructible.

In the 1950s, Hollywood icons like Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor started to wear gorgeous platinum and diamond pieces on screen and on the red carpet. Even America’s sweetheart Marilyn Monroe strutted a platinum ring she received from baseball star Joe DiMaggio for their wedding in 1954. This rise in platinum jewellery’s popularity saw creative designs coming out of Europe and Japan. To promote platinum in Africa, Anglo American Platinum together with Metal Concentrators started a series of seminars to encourage local designers and manufacturers to work with platinum and went on to launch the first PlatAfrica competition in 1998.

This year, the 19th PlatAfrica competition will be hosted by Anglo American Platinum, in collaboration with Metal Concentrators and Platinum Guild International India and promises to be another celebration of the brilliant white metal’s timeless versatility.

THE THEME FOR PLATAFRICA 2018

Over the past two decades, PlatAfrica has had a wide range of captivating themes. From Bold Minimalism to Memories of Africa, the competition has been able to ignite the imagination of contestants.

With this year’s theme, Blessings of Love, the competition looks to address gender equality by celebrating the significant milestones in the lives of young women like a graduation or a first job. Important milestones in life are often made memorable with an everlasting gift of jewellery and to create a timeless piece like this was the challenge set for the entrants of 2018.

From the milieu of parental love, the piece of jewellery should be a spontaneous affirmation that reminds any young woman just how much her parents love her, value her and admire her achievements. The contestants’ designs are expected to be modern personal, meaningful, high quality and timeless to fit their consumer market – the daughter.

THE COMPETITION

For the past 19 years, Anglo American, in collaboration with Metal Concentrators has sponsored the annual PlatAfrica jewellery design competition. This coveted competition promotes and celebrates innovation in the design and manufacturing of platinum jewellery.

PlatAfrica gives a range of professionals, apprentices and students in the South African jewellery industry the opportunity to showcase their design talent by crafting and manufacturing platinum pieces.

For many of the participant jewellers, this is also their first opportunity to work with platinum and to build their skills in this niche jewellery sector. The theme for PlatAfrica 2018 is Blessings of Love which looks to celebrate the significant milestones in the lives of young women.