Local designers encouraged to join

The young man who hails from Siassi Island in Morobe Province, was inspired by his home lifestyle when creating the designs on the new Jacks collection.

Nabur and his wife were present as Jacks handed over a cheque of K17,100 for the collection design.

“The name Tumbuan (Mask design) originated from my home Siassi Island my home and also commonly found in parts of WNB. The design Tumbuan has a long head and long grass skirt that covers its whole body. Tumbuan design patterns best represent the normal lifestyle of the island people. The other design originates from the Trobriand Island in the Milne Bay Province and is called Lagim. It is used as a powerful symbol representing the different clans while enhancing the aesthetic appeal of canoes,” said Nabur.

For this year’s competition, local designers around PNG are encouraged to join the Design PNG Competition and Product for 2024.

Entries for the competition will close on the 22^nd of May and winners will be announced on the 23^rd, 2024. Three winners to win K2,000 each for participating in the competition and a minimum of K10,000 will be paid out to each winner as royalty.  

“Every time we are looking for something unique and something that tells a story. This country has a vast variety of cultures, the floral and different regions with designs. So, it makes it a very difficult job for judges because of the variety of submissions we get. I have to say that a lot of our people are very artistic and talented and it becomes a very difficult job to get winners.

“Sometimes after winners are announced, we still go back to other designers and keep releasing new designs as we are doing today,” said City Pharmacy Ltd Group chief executive officer, Navin Raju.

Apart from the previous design winners, Jack’s saw many potential designers who they are working closely with as well.

CEO Raju also shared that Jack’s has been working with 11 designers with a total royalty worth K112,375.18