The College of Zorig Chusum or the 13 Arts and Crafts in Trashi Yangtse is seeing an increase in the number of students showing keen interest in learning Tre-zo or the art of gold and silver smith.
Principal Kinley Penjor said not many showed interest in Trezo until last year. “We had only a few of them. Most of the students were interested in other arts such as painting, sculpture, tailoring and embroidery.”
But things are changing now. Until last year, the college saw only four to five students enrolling for the course. This year, however, ten new students signed for Tre-zo classes.
Some of the students are female and they are breaking taboos, myths and stereotypes surrounding the trade and changing attitude towards it.
Sangay Lhamo is one of the female students and she is breaking the traditional notion of the art being a male-only trade.
“The general perception is that the art of smithery is not for the women,” Sangay Lhamo said.
“I volunteered to become a gold and silver smith purely out of my own interest in the art. It is a bit challenging and hard to compete with male students, but it is not impossible to learn the trade.”
Sangay Lhamo added that her parents were not very happy when she told them she wants to learn Tre-zo.
“They said it’s for men and not women. But I proved them wrong. I am in my fourth year. Back in the village, they use the term blacksmith to describe people who practice the trade, but I’ve been trying to explain them about the differences.”
“For me, whether it’s Lhadri or Tre-zo, or for that matter, any other zorig, they are all the same,’ Sangay Thinley, another student said.
As they fine tune their skills, Sangay Lhamo and her peers are bothered about anything but the negative attitude towards the trade. They have long embraced it as their profession and there’s no looking back now.
They have also started receiving orders for smithery even as they learn the art.
They know how to make various gold and silver smithery including ornaments and ritual items.
