As part of our international Erasmus project ‘The Future is our Jewel’, a group of our students recently travelled to Thessaloniki, Greece to visit School of Arts Mokume. BAJ students met their peers from other participating schools across Europe and learnt about the Greek jewellery industry first-hand.

The students learned jewellery making skills in the workshop including mokume gane and the maltesing technique. Students also experimented with print-making and created their own artwork before swapping prints with students from the different schools.

As well as numerous creative activities, the group of students from across Europe also socialised together and forged creative cultural connections while sampling the local cuisine. The jewellery the students made for the project’s third year theme ‘Fire and Future’ was also exhibited in School of Arts Mokume after having toured across Europe.

As well as BAJ, the trip included students from jewellery schools Escuela Arte 3 in Madrid, Spain; Escola Artistica de Soares dos Reis in Porto, Portugal; For.Al in Valenza, Italy; Kekpa Diek in Volos, Greece; and School of Arts Mokume in Thessaloniki, Greece.

At BAJ, we run a wide range of exhibitions and interactive projects for our students, giving them the opportunity to showcase their work abroad and broaden their creative horizons. Find out more about our diploma courses in jewellery manufacturing here.

About ‘The Future is our Jewel’

The three-year project “The Future is our Jewel” brings together six European partner schools around a common formation in the creation of jewelery, but whose cultural, heritage and professional histories are multiple. By working alongside their peers from other countries, students gain an understanding of the jewellery industry’s nuances across countries and share inspiration with their international peers.

A fundamental pillar of the programme is to promote sustainable jewellery, in terms of the environmental field and social ethics. By seeking solutions for more sustainable work models, students prepare to lead the future in jewellery.

See snapshots of the trip below