Advancing the Heritage of Armenians in Jewellery
AJF HIGHLIGHTS
As a tradition that began back in 1998 in Milan, Italy, AJA founding member Krikor Istanboulli hosted the AJA dinner in Vicenza on January 25, 2015. In appreciation of the hospitality and moved by the generosity of the host, attendees undertook to finance the tuition of one AJF scholarship student at the AGLA in Armenia. AJF is grateful to the contributors, and especially to the members of the Istanboulli family for their hospitality and ardent support.
On the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of The Armenian Genocide, the Canadian Jewellers Association has decided to fund a special scholarship in the jewellery sector through AJF in the amount of $2500. CJA has also contributed to AJF's efforts in 2014. Mr David Ritter, President of CJA (Canadian Jewellers Association) had personally presented the donation to AJF during an AJA Canada gathering.
On April 27, 2015, AJF's Hratch Kaspar held a meeting with Ms. Odile Civitello, GG, FGA, CAP who is the Director of the Ecole de Gemmologie de Montreal (EGM), and Ms. Valerie Bombardier, General Manager at EGM, to discuss AJF's future scholarships programs. EGM is the only gemological academy in Quebec and provides full certificate training courses in collaboration with GIA and the Gemological Association of Great Britain.
AJF's website has recently undergone a complete overhaul and is now hosted at a new web address: www.ajf.foundation. Together with AJF's Facebook page, the new website will provide current news and more resources for those interested in accessing information on Armenian jewellery history. Thus, the online publications section will be able to host numerous titles and future publications by the AJF team.