Images of Aksiporn and some of her creations
Images of Aksiporn and some of her creations
Images of Aksiporn and some of her creations
BLACKTOWN new migrant Aksiporn Ryan's dream of working in Australia as a jewellery designer has more than come true.
Besides working as a designer in Sydney, the 27-year-old also teaches one day a week at Enmore TAFE.
Thanks to Parramatta Navitas' English Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP), the Thai-born designer is educating second year TAFE jewellery and object design students in contemporary stone setting.
She works at Gregory Jewellers as a designer on other days.
"When I lived in Thailand I often dreamed about working as a designer in a foreign country," she said.
"It was my ambition to achieve this so that my designs could be showcased [on] the world stage.
"Many people who migrated to Australia worked in a professional career in their previous country, but would settle for non-skilled jobs when they arrived here.
"I didn't want to do this. I wanted to work as a designer here."
She came to Australia in 2010 to be with her then fiancé and ultimately get married.
She started studying at Parramatta AMEP in February 2011 and completed the program in six months.
She then did a Navitas English employment pathways course in workplace communication for qualified professionals from October to December 2011.
"This course taught me a lot about working in Australia and how to prepare for getting a job," she said.