Tayron Scagnetti, a 21-year-old jeweller at Scagnetti Fine Jewellers in Perth, has won the gold medal for jewellery manufacturing at this year’s Worldskills Australia competition.
Amy Kennedy from Artworks Jewellers in Geelong won the silver medal while Erin Thomson from Rohan Jewellers in Perth won the bronze medal.
Held in Sydney from August 30 to September 1, the competition attracted 500 competitors from around Australia in a wide range of categories ranging from bricklaying and plumbing to hairdressing and web design in the “ultimate skills challenge”.
Scagnetti, whose father owned a jewellery company in Rome before relocating to Australia in 1988 and establishing Scagnetti Jewellery in Cottesloe, “grew up with jewels”.
He said he started tinkering with jewellery around the age of 14 but didn’t get serious about jewellery as “both a skill and a career” until he was 16.
“I love the creative aspect of creating something from raw materials,” he said.
“My style is unique with a mix of classic and modern influencers. I particularly like making rings and working with platinum for both the challenge and the thrill of working with prestige metals.”
Scagnetti will now undergo intense training in the hope of being selected to compete in the Worldskills finals in Germany next year.
“I want to have the best training in my industry so that I can become the best jeweller or diamond setter,” he said.
“I would love to be able to expand the family business and really take our work to the next level – that’s the dream.”
The 42nd Worldskills International competition will be held at Leipzig from July 2-7.
The competition is expected to attract the “most skilled young people” from 61 countries/regions in 43 skill areas.
The 2013 Team Australia ‘Skillaroos’ will be officially announced next month.