The man behind a girl’s best friend

Winner of the Shining Light Award 2016/17, Richardlee Shoombe, speaks to The Zone about his future plans and what he has in store for Namibia.
Tunohole Mungoba
Tunohole Mungoba

Born 26 years ago, Richardlee Shoombe is an innovative being that expresses his creativity through his jewellery pieces. After walking away with the Shining Light Award for the year 2016/17, Shoombe will be travelling to Milan, Italy in December for a 12-month apprenticeship.

The awards, which recognise and celebrate emerging jewellery designers in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, provide entrants with a valuable platform to build their careers in the jewellery design industry.

It is not Shoombe’s first time winning this award… in 2010 and also walked away with the first prize during his student years.

“I was born in Windhoek, but then I moved to Tsumeb a year later with my mother and this is where I grew up. I started school at Opawa Junior Secondary School and I completed my matric at Etosha Senior Secondary School,” he said.

According to Shoombe, designing was always his first love. “Growing up, I knew I wanted to be a designer. I loved everything about fashion designing, be it visual, fashion, interior and jewellery designing. I enjoy everything with art,” he tells The Zone.

At the tender age of 12, Shoombe enrolled himself at a local art school called the Tsumeb Art Performance Center (APC) in 2005. “I started as pre-primary visual arts learner and I slowly worked my way up to being a secondary student in visual arts. At this stage of my educational career, I grew my creativity and learned all the techniques of designing across all mediums,” he said.

After seven years of being at the centre, Shoombe later become a qualified visual arts educator in 2012.

“I was inspired to take part in this competition because it was a good opportunity for me to showcase my talent. I love creating unique pieces,” he said.

The 12-month apprenticeship will be at the Forevermark Design and Innovation Centre in Milan, Italy, where Shoombe and the other winners will have the opportunity to work alongside jewellery designers at one of the world’s fastest growing diamond brands.

Shoombe tells The Zone that looks forward to this opportunity as it challenges him both creatively and professionally. “I am also looking forward to the exposure I will receive in Italy as I will be able to learn so much,” he added.

However, it was not always a smooth road for Shoombe. His mother never wanted him to study or do anything art-related as she felt it was a “waste of time”.

“My mother always discouraged me from pursuing this career. She did not believe there was a future in this career so I had to support myself. So, while at school, I would sell my artwork to pay for my visual arts studies,” he recalls.

The inspiration behind his winning design was under theme ‘Protecting the Beauty of Nature’.

“The title of my collection was called “It Begins with Us” which means human emotions can be a driving force toward protecting the beauty of nature. We as human beings have the strength and the knowledge to do so,” he said.

After completing his studies in Milan, Shoombe plans on setting up his jewellery store and going back to the centre to teach designing. “I believe that by teaching children, I am able to inspire hope and bring changes in their lives. I truly love teaching.”