Jewellery Design I

Course details

A strong foundation in jewellery design is the basis for many jewellery career paths. Working on paper allows for refinements and prevents costly errors and miscommunication. A good sketch can close a sale; effective renderings reveal the designer's spirit and build excitement for the design; accurate technical drafts communicate fabrication requirements to any jeweller. Together with a focus on practical, beautiful and comfortable design, these skills ensure competence and understanding in this most creative and limitless field.

Participants in this course learn, from first principles, the fundamentals of jewellery design. No prior design or art experience is required and students will complete a full portfolio of designs by the conclusion of their training and leave with a clear understanding of how to design beautiful jewellery that is durable, saleable & suitable for manufacture.

What will I learn?

In order to be a great designer, you must understand the technical aspects of accurate drawing and drafting as well as master the techniques to quickly applying creative variations to existing shapes and designs. Starting with foundation techniques and essential jewellery knowledge, progress to producing fast, creative sketches and accurate top, side and end view drawings of beautiful, durable, practical jewellery.

• Drawing Techniques: The tools and techniques for drawing, sketching and tracing are introduced and practiced. These include enlargement, reduction and application of creative variation to jewellery lines.
• Basic Forms: Basic forms are introduced as well as how to draw them in various views. The way these shapes relate to jewellery is fully explained and how the combinations of these forms help to produce quality designs.
• Drawing Gemstones: Participants learn to draw typical gemstones in all three views , as well as proposed gemstone jewellery designs. Faceted, cabochon and fancy shape gems are also covered together with common length-to-width ratios for most typical cuts.
• Settings and Findings: Settings and findings keep the gem on the metal and the jewellery attached to the wearer. The limitations and consid-erations of findings & setting gems into metals are explored.
• Rings with Gemstones: How to design and accurately draw rings incorporating gemstones in top, side and end views. Handling the complex topic of foreshortening explained and practiced for vairous scenarios.