Goldsmith training
Eight Bhutanese students are sharpening their goldsmith skills at Bangkok's Golden Jubilee Royal Goldsmith College.
Bhutan's King Jigme Singye Wangchuk is keen to conserve his country's gold ornaments and chose to have the students trained for three months in Thailand.They will be taught ancient and contemporary styles of manufacturing ornaments. The link-up was explained at a press conference yesterday by two Bhutanese officials - Weerasak Wongsombat, secretary-general of the Vocational Education Commission, and Jigme C Yezer, principal of the National Institute for Zorig Chusum. Yezer said Bhutanese handicrafts lacked quality and the students had been sent to learn about quality production. Bhutan does not intend to make goods for export, just to support its tourism industry. The Bhutanese institute hopes to develop a vocational curriculum with the Bangkok college and would like to send more students to be trained in carving and making handicrafts. Weerasak said the trainees would visit the Bang Sai Folk Arts and Crafts Centre in Ayutthaya and leading jewellery shops. The trainees attended the press conference in their national costumes - men wearing clothes called "kho" and women wearing "khira".
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