The project “THE FUTURE IS OUR JEWEL” brings together 6 partner schools around a common formation in the creation of jewellery, but whose cultural, heritage and professional histories are multiple.
For the first year of this Erasmus programme, the main theme in question was water, with a focus on heritage and past traditions and techniques. We asked our students to dive into history, researching their personal origins in the UK alongside the artistic and social heritage of the country.
Our students explored the idea of ‘true’ UK identity, from cultural, to social, to physical locale heritage. The students engaged in discovering and analysing the natural and industrial histories of the UK and how these have formed and shaped their own identities.
On top of this, they looked at the origins of craft and making in the UK and whilst designing and producing their pieces utilised these traditional jewellery making techniques and/ or materials. From this first section of the project, our students produced intricate designs truly based on the UK identity and gained a newfound respect for the knowledge gleaned from looking to the past.