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This year’s GemGenève show was a particularly international affair. The annual jewelry and gemstone event in the Swiss lakeside city boasted exhibitors from countries as diverse as China, Albania, Turkey, India and Australia. Showing for the first time was the Jewellery and Gemstone Association of Africa (JGAA), part of the inaugural Africa Jewellery Week exhibition. Among other things, the group announced the winners of a design contest it had run jointly with GemGenève to underscore the potential of African skills and creativity — aspects that have traditionally received less attention than the continent’s mineral riches.
“As Africans, we walk on a rainbow beneath our feet, yet we are seemingly poor,” says Longo Mulaisho-Zinsner, the Zambian-born founder and president of strategy at JGAA and Africa Jewellery Week. “This is not poverty of natural resources, but more a gap in exposure that, if plugged, will make us significant players in the global industry. We have skills, creativity and talent to showcase.”
Building a bridge through gems
Aiming to raise awareness of and react to challenges surrounding access, visibility and poverty, the It’s All in Our Hands contest was open to jewelers living on the African continent as well as those in the diaspora, because “wherever they’re based, jewelers of African descent all face similar challenges and barriers to success,” Mulaisho-Zinsner explains.
Collectively, the entrants’ work was both a celebration of African identity and a call to action. “We know that Africa is home to extraordinary gemstones, but it’s also seen an upturn in fine jewelry in recent years,” says GemGenève co-organizer Nadège Totah. The contest “is our way of building a bridge between Europe and Africa.”
The Sleeping Tree pendant by Zambian goldsmith Venasho Phiri — who won first prize in the Expert, Africa and Diaspora category — exemplified the theme. Hoping to “inspire others with African artistry,” as he said at the show, he used Zambian aquamarine, tourmaline, citrine and amethyst, setting each with a different technique.
Nearby was Stefania Indelicato of Ambersouk, who creates jewels from gemstones and African antiques, infusing them with cultural significance. Her 1000 Flowers ring features a 19th-century Venetian millefiori trading bead that Indelicato sourced at Sudan’s Omdurman Souk. Of Eritrean and Italian descent, the designer grew up in Sudan and chose the bead to represent the trade in goods and slaves between Europe and Africa.
Elsewhere at the exhibition, Ghanaian-British designer Jo Boateng — one of the competition’s judges — displayed her striking glass and silver beadwork collars and earrings, while next to her, French-born Catherine Marché’s delicate gold and gemstone jewels showed off Botswanan diamonds. Having these two very different styles side-by-side drove home the breadth of African and diaspora talent, and attracted plenty of interest from industry professionals in Geneva.
‘Our greatest abundance is our people’
Mulaisho-Zinsner founded the JGAA in 2022 to enhance jewelry skills and gem education, and thereby reduce poverty and promote economic advancement.
“We began as the Jewellery and Gemstone Association of Zambia (JGAZ),” she relates. “As the world went online during the Covid-19 pandemic, the possibility of widening participation to other African countries became a reality.”
The opacity of gemstone supply chains means statistics are scarce, but the common assessment is that most African-mined gemstones leave the continent to get cut and polished elsewhere, taking with them one of Africa’s greatest sources of wealth. Reasons include a lack of local infrastructure, the informal nature of the trade, and demand from established processing centers like Thailand.
Yet “our greatest abundance is our people,” asserts Mulaisho-Zinsner. “We [foresee] a dynamic jewelry and gem industry in Africa, accessible to all.”
Norma Jean Banton, a jewelry designer and educator of Jamaican descent, is one of the experts delivering training for the JGAA, along with the Kansanshi Mining-backed Nsanshi Art Studio in Zambia. “I believe in the power of connection, which is why it’s been so special to work with the JGAA,” says Banton, who is based in the historic Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham, UK. “Through collaboration, we are one.”
In 2021, she set up the MasterPeace Academy training center to teach jewelry skills to young people in Birmingham. Three years later, she opened a second campus in Machakos, Kenya, with MasterPeace codirector and gemologist Kyalo Kiilu at the helm.
MasterPeace began partnering with the JGAA due to their shared goals, Banton explains. “We’re passionate about how jewelry can change lives for the better. At our new campus in Kenya, our students develop their skills using locally mined stones — not only a practical way to keep both jewelry skills and gemstone wealth in Africa, but also a powerful symbol of our goals.”
The JGAA design contest presented an “opportunity for African jewelers to gain international visibility,” says Mulaisho-Zinsner. “It’s now in the hands of Africans to share their craft and story in their own voices.”
Winning entries
Entrants in the JGAA x GemGenève It’s All in Our Hands contest fell into two categories: emerging jewelers living in Africa, and expert jewelers from both Africa and the diaspora. The prizes for the first category included mentorship from K2 Academy and MasterPeace Academy, online tuition from gemstone expert Rui Galopim de Carvalho, and a copy of The Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight. The second category’s winners earned a signed copy of de Carvalho’s Gempedia and the chance to show their work at GemGenève.
Judging the contest were designers Satta Matturi, Jo Boateng, Boitshoko Kebakile-Mashaba, Eileen Madzime and Katrin Spranger. Here are the winners in each category.
Emerging Jeweler, Africa-Based
Expert, Africa and Diaspora
Main image: The Jewellery and Gemstone Association of Africa (JGAA) collective at GemGenève. (GemGenève)
