British Academy of Jewellery and Fuli Gemstones collaborate to give our Jewellery Design and Manufacturing Diploma students hands-on experience working with Fuli’s natural and vibrant peridot.

As part of the Academy’s ongoing efforts to ensure that our students gain relevant, future-facing industry experience, we are proud to be working on an exciting jewellery design and manufacturing project in collaboration with Fuli Gemstones.

The project challenges our level 5 diploma students to design and make jewellery featuring a Fuli peridot. Fuli Gemstones has generously donated a peridot for every student to use in their creation. Each piece of jewellery made by the students will reflect the history and meaning of this precious gemstone, while still feeling relevant to the modern-day jewellery consumers. 

Pia Tonna, Chief Marketing Officer for Fuli Gemstones, said: “We are looking for innovation in setting, striking designs, conceptual yet wearable pieces.”

The BAJ x Fuli Gemstones collaboration gives students the chance to work with precious gemstones, a valuable undertaking for their professional experience in gemstone setting and jewellery design, and is also an opportunity to gain hands-on experience of creating jewellery to a real professional brief set by an international gemstone mining company.

Fuli Gemstones is a modern mining company with Chinese heritage, which operates the largest known peridot deposit in the world, located in the Changbai Mountains. The company, which is a strong proponent of traceability and transparency in the jewellery industry, has set itself the mission of promoting peridot as a modern, accessible gemstone.

“This project allows our students to develop a deep understanding of what it’s like to work to a professional jewellery brief, while also giving them experience of designing and creating with real gemstones,” said Kate Rieppel, Head of Academy at the British Academy of Jewellery. 

“We are particularly proud to be partnering with Fuli Gemstones, whose transparent and progressive approach clearly aligns with our own values of teaching our students awareness of the context of materials in the jewellery industry. It’s an incredibly rare and special experience for our learners to experience working with coloured gemstones; particularly peridot. They will find incredible inspiration from the beautiful vibrancy of these unique stones.”

The pieces created as part of our collaborative project will be exhibited at the Fuli Gemstones lounge as a part of The Jewellery Cut Live, the London-based boutique jewellery show, a platform to promote independent jewellery designers, which will take place in April 2022. This is an excellent opportunity for our students to showcase their skills to the public and gain essential jewellery sector exposure. 

The British Academy of Jewellery’s project with Fuli Gemstones is just one of our many collaborative initiatives, presenting our students with unique opportunities to work with renowned jewellery brands and companies, having previously partnered with Alighieri and Alex Monroe.