Student jewellery designs set to sparkle

UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 12 JUNE 2015

Eyecatching new jewellery, designed and made by the latest graduates from Europe’s largest jewellery school, will be on show in Birmingham this June.

The dazzling work of graduating students from Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery will be exhibited from the 15 - 18 June at its Jewellery Quarter based campus, for the School’s Graduate Show 2015.

The event, organised as part of its 125 anniversary celebration and Birmingham City University’s ‘Inspired Festival’ will be open to the public all-day, with private viewings on selected evenings.

The School of Jewellery Graduate Show provides an opportunity for students to showcase their inventive, fresh ideas and work to employers and the general public. The show is part of the Inspired Festival, which aims to highlight creativity, hard work and production of students’ from Birmingham City University.

Based within Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery has a long-established, international reputation. Head of School, Gaynor Andrews, says: “The School of Jewellery is a unique subject-specific school and as such is currently the only institution that offers a complete range of courses from Diploma to PhD level, and is the largest school of jewellery in Europe.

“The school has an established reputation for its collaborative approach to working with industry, and since its foundation in 1890 by the Birmingham Silversmiths and Jewellers Association (now the British Jewellers Association), has continued to seek out opportunities to collaborate and maintain a meaningful dialogue with industry, related associations and organisational bodies.”

Becoming craftsmen in traditional skills, winning industry competitions and landing jobs with famous brands are all par for the course for School of Jewellery students. Designers to watch out for in the future include Gabi Gucci, Ching-I-Chien and Andrew Law.

Gabi Gucci has been mastering the traditional art of Mokume Gane to create his diamond engagement and wedding rings. Mokume Gane is the traditional Japanese method for laminating various colours of metals together to create patterns that resemble wood textures.

Diamonds are certainly a girl’s best friend for Ching-I-Chien, who during her studies won a competition with jeweller’s Charles Green to design and CAD an engagement ring to budget.

Even before he leaves the School of Jewellery, Andrew Law is graduating from Horology having secured a job with Swatch, one of the world’s most popular brands for contemporary Swiss watches.

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