Our Market Development team’s mission is to create sustainable demand for the six platinum group metals (PGMs) we mine. It finds and nurtures new commercial possibilities for PGMs across a range of industries and applications.
The jewellery sector is an area of opportunity. Stimulating global demand can, for example, help grow local skills and drive job creation in South Africa – home to five of our platinum mining operations. It can also create a more resilient end-market for our metals.
In line with this, our PGMs business has spearheaded the PlatAfrica competition – in collaboration with Platinum Guild International (PGI) India and Metal Concentrators (MetCon) – for more than two decades. 2023 marked the 24th year since Anglo American began running the manufacturing and design competition.
Aimed at promoting innovation and technical competence in the design and manufacture of platinum jewellery in South Africa, the 2022 edition received more than 185 entries across two categories: student-apprentice and professional jewellers. The competition theme, ‘Hope’, was inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic and the commitment to sustainability in a modern world.
A panel of local and international experts judged the jewellery designs based on the entrants’ interpretation of the brief, their creativity and technical expertise, with four winners chosen from each category. In addition to a cash prize and media exposure, in February 2023, the winners were invited to travel to India to immerse themselves in the country’s jewellery industry, and participate in a series of design and brand building workshops. Previous winners from the past three years unable to join the India trip due to Covid-19 travel restrictions were also able to join this year’s cohort.
Fahmida Smith, Market Development Principal at Anglo American joined them. She said: “The work of PlatAfrica is to help develop the South African jewellery industry, which is still quite small. While there are a few jewellers in the country with international clientele, global market access is limited, particularly for platinum.
“In contrast, India is among the world’s fastest growing jewellery markets. By providing our designers and manufacturers the opportunity to hone their platinum-smithing skills, and a stepping stone to the wider global jewellery industry, PlatAfrica represents the type of exposure that would otherwise be almost impossible to gain.”
Jewellery plays an important symbolic role in Indian culture, carrying familial and spiritual meaning, and often signifying status and wealth. Although gold jewellery is the most prevalent with the older generations, platinum jewellery has been growing in popularity with younger generations.
Gaining first-hand experience of India’s jewellery manufacturing and retail industry is incredibly valuable to the designers, with Fahmida saying: “In South Africa, most jewellery manufacturing is at the bench-level. In India, the designers got to see platinum jewellery being manufactured at scale, and the capacity and resources that are needed to do this.
“By issuing metal to our contestants during the application phase of the competition, we remove one of the biggest barriers to access, and afford them the chance to be creative and innovative with a metal they would probably only be able to access later in their careers. In India, we built on that experience, by raising the question of: ‘How do we deliver big, bold designs that are contextually relevant, and at a price point that makes sense for a commercial market?’”
The trip to India was a first for Fahmida and the winning designers. Excited to experience Indian culture and its people, her enjoyment was also fuelled by seeing the winners gain new perspectives and dimensions on their craft, and the visible impact this has had on their growing confidence. She said: “The exposure to a bigger and more diverse ecosystem has helped our designers realise that, not only are they a part of it, but they can also play a much bigger role.
“One of this year’s winners has a hearing impairment. During our tour of a manufacturing facility, we learned that some of the Indian workforce there were also deaf. Seeing him communicating with them and realising that, as a person with a disability, there is potential for him to build a career in the industry, was fantastic to witness.
“It’s a great opportunity for the industry as much as it is for our designers. This was particularly apparent during the one-on-one presentations with the jewellery manufacturers, who were visibly impressed by the winners’ designs and their broader portfolios. The dawning realisation that South Africa has an important role to play within the wider global jewellery supply chain was enriching and enlightening for all of us.”
Although PlatAfrica has been a South African initiative to-date, Fahmida is keen to expand the programme further, saying: “We have already started working on this year’s brief, and are thinking about how we incorporate new aspects to the competition. PlatAfrica has always been about the one-of-a-kind, statement piece, but the trip to India made us question whether there is an opportunity to introduce a commercial thought process to the equation too.
“We also want to ensure that, from a supply chain perspective, Africa’s relevance within the global platinum jewellery industry is better-known and appreciated. For the first time last year, in collaboration with Africa Fashion International, we took PlatAfrica to the Forbes 30/50 summit held in Abu Dhabi, thereby showcasing the best of South African jewellery design at one of the world’s crossroads.”
As well as raising demand for platinum, the manufacturing and design competition is creating socio-economic benefits for the broader South African population too.
“PlatAfrica is not just about raising demand for platinum,” Fahmida said. “It's also about ensuring that we are building skills, beneficiating our PGM resources in-country, and creating opportunities for local designers to be able to gain some kind of financial reward.
“That is what we really want to do; to form commercial links that enable our designers to create and sell their platinum jewellery – jewellery made with Anglo American Platinum metal on the African continent – into global demand, while building the programme further and driving positive advocacy around what we are doing.”
To see some of 2022’s jewellery creations, click here.