[Jewelry making - Article 00214] - [Orchid] Hanuman's speech at the 8th Orchid Dinner

[Hanuman]

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    All; 

    I would like to share my words to Orchid with those who did not make
    it to the Tucson dinner. I had the rare privilege to meet face to
    face 230 dear Orchidians! You were great. I hope to meet even more
    Orchidians next year. 

    Thank you all for your support! 
    Hanuman 


	The 8th Orchid Dinner
	Tucson, 6 February 2004.


    Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, 

    It is difficult to describe how special it is for me to be here
    again with you tonight.  I feel privileged being with Orchidians and
    friends with whom I share ideas, dreams, and goals. Thank you all
    for coming and showing your support. 

    On my to Tucson, I was strolling down memory lane to times in my
    small room in Bangkok; where this odyssey began. 

    An old Chinese phrase came to my mind. It says that with time and
    patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.  

    Every type of community is brought together by regular events;
    family dinners, weekly bridge games, monthly club meetings and
    annual celebrations. These gatherings help to further define the
    community and remind us what we have in common and what is our
    community is all about. 

    Tonight we are not just having an Orchid dinner, we are celebrating
    Orchid. We are celebrating our mission that we all share and
    respect. 

    Last year, we had celebrations for Orchid at almost every major
    jewelry show in the USA. What a tremendous achievement! These
    celebrations are always organized by Orchidians for Orchid. I am
    grateful to all the volunteers who worked hard to put these
    celebrations together.  These events strengthen the Orchid communal
    sentiment, through bringing online and offline life together. 

    The Orchid celebrations, I think must be seen as part of the global
    Orchid community bond. I want to thank all of you who helped to make
    it a fundraising event for Orchid. Our community bond does not need
    to be wealthy, but we must keep it healthy and strong. 

    Thanks to the efforts of Karen Christians of MetalWerx and Beth
    Rosengard, anyone who is interested in organizing such a celebration
    for Orchid, can use their compiled recommendations based on their
    past experiences. 

    Now, you might ask yourself what is Orchid for me? Please let me
    tell you. At the risk of sound mysterious, Orchid is my second self.
    It is a space where I find my own identity; it is a magic space that
    fills me entirely. It is the family I never had, and the friendships
    I never forged. I believe that many of you also found this magic
    space, and I hope it opened new paths for new creative ideas and
    maybe some new perspectives on our trade for jewelers and
    metalsmiths world wide. 

    In the past year we had about 30 percent increase in the amount of
    our discussion traffic and we welcomed many new users from the UK
    and Australia. Thanks to the improvement of search engines
    translation utilities, we also were privileged to welcome many users
    from non English speaking countries, like Brazil, France and
    Germany. 

    With such a technical and aesthetic diversity we worked hard to
    foster our united Orchid bond. We are creating more strategic
    alliances with major publications, such as AJM and Glass on Metal. 
    Authors of major jewelry books are coming forward and offering their
    content to Ganoksin.   

    I read once that an online community has a life cycle; from birth to
    maturity and from maturity to conclusion. With all of you, I know
    that we are building a solid foundation, real life roots you might
    say. The topics may shift but together we will work hard to make
    sure of its survival. 

    Now before we are getting into the Tequila and Tortiya state of
    mind; 

    It is indeed a long list of people and organizations that I am
    indebted to. 

    Firstly I want to express to the entire Orchid family, that with
    your love, support and dedication, your loyalty, endless brain
    storming, and active participation makes Orchid what it is today. 

    My special thanks goes to Rio Grande for their valuable, continuous
    support, your vision in promoting the education of both general
    public and the professional circles, and sponsoring this event.
    Thank Andrea Hill and the wonderful Bell family.  Your donation of
    the J2R casting machine is greatly appreciated. 

    I want to thank Frei and Borel, Indian Jewelers Supply and Metalwerx
    for choosing to be a sapphire sponsor of tonight, and for the
    generous donations from Lee Marshall of Bonny Doon  and Cindy
    Lichfield of Cloud Dome inc. and of course for all those who donated
    to the silent auction. 

    I want to thank James Marquart, Rich Youmans and Tina Wojtkielo of
    AJM for their generous cooperation and the important content they
    are contribution, enriching Ganoksin's knowledge base. Thank you
    also for donating a corner to Orchid at the upcoming MJSA show in
    New-York. 

    At the same token, my gratitude goes to all the publications,
    organizations, guilds, and independent writers for providing
    continuous, and not always effortless, stream of informative
    articles to Ganoksin. 

    My special thanks to Charles Lewton-Brain and Karen Christians for
    the countless hours of video conferencing, and for your day to day
    support throughout the year. 

    I want to also to thank my assistant Ton, who over the last five
    years working with me learned how to screen the thousands of emails
    that come through daily. Without his assistance orchid would never
    have grown to be the efficient and secure forum that is today. Ton
    Thank you!  

    Last but certainly not least, I want to thank Sam Patania and Pat
    Kulla for your hours of dedication in making this event a
    spectacular gathering.  

    Thank you Pat Glover for your outstanding efforts in arranging the
    silent auction. Volunteers are often asked to do the impossible, but
    the Tucson group goes above and beyond. 

    Thank you all for this great dinner celebration. I am already
    looking forward to seeing you next year.  The Tucson Gem Show is an
    exciting event which I really enjoy. 

    I will be here for the rest of the show; I would love to spend some
    more time with each one of you if possible.  Look for me at the
    Hilton East, at Rio Grande's Catalog in Motion.  I will be at the
    lobby all morning tomorrow. 

    Good night and don't forget to "Put an Orchid on your Bench" 

Hanuman


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