Introduction to Jewellery Design Online Short Course
Course description
Course overview
Bespoke jewellery is a highly decorative art form, sculpting precious metals into innovative and meaningful designs. As a jewellery designer, how do you harness your creative process to produce pieces with originality and significance?
This online short course will show you how to design your own jewellery collection, from idea generation, through problem solving to completed hand rendered 2D design. The course is highly practical, and each week you will meet with a small group of like-minded students in our online classroom, for demonstrations, mini-lectures, and Q&A. You will become acquainted with technical knowledge and skills that are essential for aspiring jewellery designers.
Who this course is for
This course is perfect for individuals new to jewellery design. A chance to expand your portfolio through product design, while learning how to render, cost and market your pieces to a professional level.
Key information
Topics covered
- You will be guided through the design process including how to conduct visual research, sketching and rendering skills, and technical drawing for your finished designs.
- How to sketch and draw accurately (gem evaluation while utilising a range of techniques when designing your own pieces).
- Trends within current and historical jewellery design
- Visual research and where to look for inspiration
- Reviewing museums, libraries and galleries
- Interpreting images through mood boards
- Sketching - greyscale and texture
- Demonstrating an awareness of light
- Matt vs. polished surfaces
- Colour theory and matching: hues, intensity and shade
- Rendering shapes for gold, silver and platinum
- Cabochon cut gemstones
- Perspective technical drawing
- Responding to and writing a design brief
- Model making
- Designing a box ring
- Costing your designs
Learning outcomes
- By the end of the course you will have;
- Drawing techniques specific to presenting a 3D object in 2D
- Sourced and conducted different types of visual research
- Gained confidence in hands-on jewellery design and rendering
- Used a range of painting and drawing techniques to create original jewellery designs
- Gained a better understanding of how to develop a jewellery design from an initial idea through to a finished concept
- Produced a body of work that will contribute to a portfolio that can be used for the industry or to enter further study
- Developed a jewellery concept you could pitch to a client
- Received personalised feedback from your tutor, an industry specialist
- Receive a digital badge and certificate of attendance
Materials
Course Specific Materials:
- Notepad and pen
- Pencils, sketchbook or paper, eraser, ruler, etc.
- Software to prepare assignments - Powerpoint, Word, Photoshop, etc.
Please see our Guide to taking online short courses.
Tutor
Kali Forbes
Kali Forbes is a jewellery designer-maker specialising in bespoke engagement and wedding rings, alongside an award-winning collection of demi-fine jewellery. Her work has been showcased at leading platforms, including the Goldsmiths' Centre, Wolf & Badger and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Combining traditional handcraft techniques with modern CADCAM technology, Kali creates timeless, meticulously crafted jewellery designed for longevity. As the founder and sole proprietor of her brand, she oversees every stage of the creative and technical process, from initial research and design to prototype development and hand-finishing.
With over eight years of experience in jewellery education, Kali has taught design, CADCAM and making skills at well known institutions such as the British Academy of Jewellery and the Royal College of Art. Her teaching practice is informed by her industry expertise, fostering a learning environment centred on precision, innovation and craftsmanship.
Coline Assade
Coline Assade is a French jewellery designer based in London. Inspired by the intersection of nature and mythology, she creates bold, colourful and joyful pieces from her studio at the Goldsmiths Centre, in the heart of London's jewellery quarter. Coline graduated from Central Saint Martins with a degree in jewellery design where her exploration with enamelling and wax carving started. Her love for sketching and figurative work stems from her background in illustration.
She has since returned to Central Saint Martins to teach 'Presentation and Technical Drawing' to first-year students, sharing her knowledge and passion for hand-drawn jewellery illustration techniques. She has honed her craft working alongside renowned designers such as Melanie Georgacopoulos and Alice Cicolini while developing her own eponymous label in parallel.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, from Las Vegas to Munich, with notable showcases at JCK, Objet d'Emotion gallery, LAPADA art fair, and the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. Coline's designs have earned her two silver awards from the prestigious Goldsmiths Craft and Design Council Awards. Through her jewellery, she aims to empower individuals to carve their own stories and express themselves fearlessly.
Imogen Belfield
Imogen Belfield continues to push the boundaries with her jewellery collections, developing new designs each season whilst continuing to advance popular signature pieces. Taking inspiration from nature, science and architecture, Imogen is known for her distinct style of mark making in metal: a fusion between fluidity and texture. She creates unique jewellery sculptures ranging from cascading golden nugget pendants encrusted with precious stones, to statement 'rockesque' rings. Imogen's textural and organic designs are instantly recognisable, one-of-a-kind creations that are handmade in the UK.
Since breaking into the world of fashion and jewellery in 2010, Imogen’s covetable pieces have won the attention from a plethora of super stars: Angela Bassett, Olivia Colman, Sophie Turner, Beyoncé, Nicole Scherzinger, Lorde, Uma Thurman, Reece King, Madonna, Kim Kardashian and Rita Ora. Imogen’s jewellery has also been featured in films: most recently Black Panther - Wakanda Forever, creating Oscar winning pieces for Angela Bassett’s character Queen Ramonda. Previously creating jewellery for Ridley Scott’s ‘The Counsellor’, worn by Cameron Diaz; in television series: Netflix’s ‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’, worn by Tati Gabrielle; music videos: Duran Duran’s ‘Girl Panic’ worn by Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, Yasmin Le Bon, Cindy Crawford and Eva Herzigova. Belfield's designs have further acquired prominent press in Vogue, ELLE, Harper's Bazaar and WWD, amongst others. The collections have been snapped up by renowned stockists worldwide including Selfridges, Reinhold Jewelers, Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges, to name a few.
Over the years, Imogen has received many accolades including ‘Best in Gold’ at the COUTURE Design Awards with her show-stopping ‘Amazonian’ gold and diamond necklace. This year she was shortlisted for the Drapers Awards and Accessories Brand of the Year. Most notably she received recognition in the industry by becoming a graduate of the British Fashion Council’s Rock Vault at London Fashion Week curated by Stephen Webster.
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