The Gem & Jewellery Skill Council of India (GJSCI) has been on a mission – to handpick skilled jewellery designers from abroad and bring them to India to impart training to all potential Indian candidates participating in competitions. GJSCI believes that global collaboration and exchange of knowledge on innovation and techniques helps upgrade skills and boost the confidence of competitors, thus giving them a winning edge.
Recently, GJSCI hired one such skilled trainer, LEONARDO RODRIGUES, a Brazil-based designer and winner of the 2015 WorldSkills Competition, and invited him to India. Currently, Leonardo is training Sanjoy Pramanik, who will participate in the WorldSkills Competition in Kazan, Russia this August.
Leonardo is working towards making India a ‘world champion’. Ever since he bagged gold at WorldSkills, this jewellery artist has been hired time and again to impart training to candidates participating in similar competitions around the world. In a free-wheeling discussion, Leonardo opens up about his visit to India and Sanjoy’s chances of winning the championship. “I want Sanjoy to be better than I am,” says Leonardo with a huge generosity of spirit – truly spoken like a winner!
Photo: Vinicius Magalhães
An import from Brazil, Leonardo Rodrigues is currently in India. Associated with the Gem & Jewellery Skill Council of India (GJSCI), he is also visiting some jewellery exporters situated in SEEPZ, Mumbai, to help them upscale their overall levels of quality and technical skills. “I am eagerly looking forward to meeting and interacting with stalwarts of the Indian jewellery industry who have been world players in the field of jewellery exports and manufacturing,” says Leo, as he is fondly called.
But Leo’s main goal is to train Sanjoy Pramanik, India’s participant in the WorldSkills Competition, and help him win gold.
So what made him train his sights on India? “We cannot change the world, but I can change the world of our Indian competitor,” Leo promises. “I will help change his life. It’s time for India to go for gold in the competition.”
Leo has a high opinion of Sanjoy’s skills. “He’s good, but he needs to improve in certain departments. I am here for six weeks to train him to enhance his skill sets from soldering, surface finishing, sawing, dimension control, which also includes weight, timing, creativity and manufacturing the piece similar to the drawing. This time, the participants will be given a blank space to fill in a piece that will then be created by the participant based on his aesthetic skills. A design motif that synchronises with the piece of jewellery,” informs Leo.
The artist
Leo got into the field of jewellery designing in 2010. He recalls that his dream was to fly in an airplane, but his father didn’t have the money. Leo applied for an apprenticeship at a company that made gold jewellery while still in high school. He worked at the bench and saw the magical transformation of gold and silver into a ring or a pendant. He fell in love with the vocation. Thereafter, he honed his skills in metallurgy and improved on technical skills. Then came the godsend opportunity – to participate in a state-level competition. This was one chance he thought that would take him on a plane ride! And it did!
The will for winning doubled and he gave it all he had. “I wanted to win the competition more than anything else,” he recalls. Leo bagged the gold medal in the 2015 WorldSkills Competition for a brooch that bore a Brazilian flag.
Trained in Coaching Techniques by the Brazilian Coaching Society with emphasis on motivation and production of solutions and results, Leo has graduated in 3D jewellery drawing in Rhinoceros by SENAI Rio and specialised in jewellery production techniques in the “Chambre de Métiers d’Alsace”, France; he has secured a Diploma in Jewelry Techniques by SENAI. Leo worked at H. Stern Jewelry as an assistant goldsmith for three years till 2014.
Known for exquisite handcrafted jewellery, Leo started his eponymous brand Leo Rodrigues
