Program Overview

Are you fascinated by distinct materials and the objects they form, both decorative and functional? Are you drawn in by the effect of items that ‘just sit’? Challenge yourself to think harder about your work and where it belongs in the wider world.

This course will train you to harness more sophisticated design and research skills, which will serve as a starting point for you to develop your design language and truly engage with meaning and context. You’ll find that experimentation and radical thinking are central to learning at this level. Live projects will drive your ambitions and you’ll deepen and strengthen your practice with social and collaborative interactions.

 Within our challenging and supportive framework this Jewellery and Silversmithing master’s course is both specialised and flexible in the creative license it offers. This course will see you:

• Enable design innovation through the application of research and conceptual analysis
• Question the function and meaning within your work
• Hone your making skills with access to a wide range of equipment and professional staff, whatever your preferred material
• Develop your distinct creative voice and learn to communicate this unique offer to clients
• Work on interdisciplinary live projects with real clients and established studios, recognising both the power and the responsibility of being a creative thinker
• Engage your understanding of present and future contexts in relation to your practice
• Leave the course ready to launch into a career which follows your ambitions as a designer
• Join a community of designers spearheading the culture of sustainable practice as you take your knowledge and skills to the wider commercial arena

Benefitting from a teaching and learning strategy centered around set projects, you’ll learn experientially through active learning principles. In order to gain the most out of the course you’ll be encouraged to situate your practice in a global professional context whilst also being challenged and guided by academic tutors to develop your own distinct style as a designer and maker. Discourse about the nature, practice and problems of design will mean you reflect on your own process and engage with industry as well as the research community of jewellery and silversmithing.

The course focuses closely on developing practice in relation to what is required for commercial success, whilst also framing this in the broader context of positive social impact. You’ll graduate a flexible and resilient jeweller or silversmith (or a designer in a similar field), ready to define your unique place in the industry. You’ll also be supported to apply your skills across broader design arenas.

Studying with a core team of academic teaching staff who have strong links to industry, along with high-profile visiting lecturers who are active at the forefront of their practice, you’ll grow your understanding of professionalism in your sphere. Motivated by ‘real-world’ projects, there are opportunities to rehearse design processes and strategies for client briefs provided by our partners. Ideas will develop through feedback from leading industry practitioners. Studio practice is supported by formal delivery of supporting theory and research methods in dedicated modules which serve to enrich and add depth to your work.