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Level 4 Diploma in Jewellery
Design and Manufacturing
Full bursaries may be available for 16-18 years based in London, subject to availability and eligibility.
Overview
Ready to take your jewellery career to the next level and build advanced skills?
The Level 4 Diploma in Jewellery Design and Manufacturing is the first qualification of its kind in the UK, created in collaboration with the SQA. This pioneering programme equips you with advanced skills, perfects your craft, and prepares you to design and make jewellery, launch your own business, and achieve greater success in the competitive jewellery industry.
Equivalent to the first year of university or an HNC, this qualification provides a solid foundation for advancing your career in the jewellery trade.
With practical workshop training, in-depth design and CAD projects, and focused entrepreneurship modules, the diploma offers a rich, varied learning experience tailored to the multifaceted world of jewellery making.
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Level:
L4 Diploma in Jewellery Design & Manufacturing
Awarding body:
SQA
Location:
London
Duration :
10 months, 2 d/wNext start date:
September 2026
Tuition fee:
£6,421 for students aged 19+ with the Advanced Learner Loan or £6,921 privately funded See fees and funding for details
Study mode:
In person
What You Will Learn
The course will begin with a solid review of crucial design techniques and a comprehensive study of introductory gemmology. At the same time, you’ll expand your existing knowledge of the cultural identities of art and design, applying this knowledge to your practice in the jewellery workshop.
Throughout the course you’ll be given a variety of set briefs asking you to design jewellery pieces for specific ‘clients’. You’ll be responsible for analysing the cultural, aesthetic, and socioeconomic elements as part of the design process and how these relate to the jewellery industry as a whole.
While you continue to develop your design skills in the studio you’ll also advance your study in CAD. You’ll bring these designs into the workshop in combination with learning more advanced jewellery techniques such as filigree. You’ll further improve your jewellery bench skills by producing your CAD designs at the bench refining your craft every step of the way.
Professional Studies (20%)
Throughout your diploma, you’ll cover jewellery-specific subjects like gemmology and jewellery history alongside other subjects that will prepare you for a jewellery career.
You’ll also engage with the wider creative and cultural context, prepare for creative industries, prepare for the workplace, and gain a deeper understanding of gemstones.
Assessment
The first assessment period will be a review of the safe working procedures in a workshop environment. This will build on the knowledge you previously gained.
Assessment 2
You will have a second assessment period during which you will be evaluated on the the knowledge you have gained in your gemmology studies and the practical application to a brief addressing design and cultural identities.
Assessment 3-4
Leading up to assessments 3 and 4, you will continue to add more advanced jewellery making skills to your repertoire in both the workshop and design classes. You will undertake advanced hinge, clasp, compartment/mechanism and linkage production and in CAD, workshop and design classes combining these techniques and skills in physical jewellery pieces.
Throughout classes leading up to the third and fourth assessments, you will also be presented with skills you will need to develop your own brand identities and marketing platforms whilst you continue to refine your own career paths. During this period you will also undertake a setting masterclass that will add to your portfolio of skills.
Your third assessment will focus on your ability to develop a unique piece of jewellery to a set brief around the theme of hidden or secret compartments using advanced jewellery making and design techniques suitable to the content of the brief.
The fourth assessment will evaluate your ability to apply your knowledge of advanced mechanisms with complex linkage and clasp production.
Final project
Your final project for the diploma will be a culmination of the live work you’ve been working towards throughout the year. Up to this point, you will have had mentor meetings with tutors on various subjects, including design, theory, manufacturing, and CAD. You’ll present your project to a panel of tutors and showcase it in a final exhibition.
What is covered?
Jewellery Techniques and Projects (40%)
You will learn advanced jewellery manufacturing skills in technical exercises, and develop your designs in response to set and self-set briefs.
– Forming
– Joining
– Finishing
– Polishing
– Metallurgy
Aside from the key technical knowledge and skills (40%) you will be taught: CAD (25%)
– Use technical CAD skills for professional fine jewellery manufacturing using a CAD software package.
– Produce advanced design for precious metal objects using CAD technology.
– Produce advanced prototypes for precious metal objects using CAM technology design (15%).
– Create your designs in response to industry set and your self-set briefs.
– Interpret the design brief and follow the design process.
– Art and Design: Cultural Identity
What Will You Learn
The course will begin with a solid review of crucial design techniques and a comprehensive study of introductory gemmology. At the same time, you’ll expand your existing knowledge of the cultural identities of art and design, applying this knowledge to your practice in the jewellery workshop.
Throughout the course you’ll be given a variety of set briefs asking you to design jewellery pieces for specific ‘clients’. You’ll be responsible for analysing the cultural, aesthetic, and socioeconomic elements as part of the design process and how these relate to the jewellery industry as a whole.
While you continue to develop your design skills in the studio you’ll also advance your study in CAD. You’ll bring these designs into the workshop in combination with learning more advanced jewellery techniques such as filigree. You’ll further improve your jewellery bench skills by producing your CAD designs at the bench refining your craft every step of the way.
Student Work
The Results
Upon completion of the diploma, you’ll receive an SQA Level 4 qualification in Jewellery Design and Manufacturing along with a BAJ certificate of completion. The course is assessed on a pass/fail basis.
Entry Requirements
Some prior knowledge and skills in jewellery manufacturing are required to undertake the diploma. An ideal stepping stone to this programme is our Level 3 Diploma in Jewellery Design and Manufacturing. If you have not completed a L3 Diploma with BAJ you may be required to take a bench test.
Fees and funding
The course can be privately funded, co-funded, or funded through an Advanced Learner Loan. Full bursaries may be available for 16-18-year-olds based in London, subject to availability and eligibility. Funding may also be available for learners ages 19 and up via the Advanced Learner Loan.
-
£6,421 for learners eligible for the Advanced Learner Loan. -
£6,921 for learners not eligible for the Advanced Learner Loan, which includes international students who already have sponsorship.
To find out if you are eligible, please contact our recruitment team.
“It’s brilliant. I can’t wait to get on to [BAJ’s diploma programme] and I can’t wait to see where it’s going to take me. I thought I would join BAJ with the intend of honing in on a specific skill but now I’m open to literally anything to do with jewellery. It’s completely opened up something that I was already passionate about. The atmosphere at BAJ is incredibly supportive. I did four years of university before coming to BAJ and in these six or seven months, I’ve felt more supported within the college than I have anywhere else. It’s been incredible. “
– Author
Entry Requirements
Some prior knowledge and skills in jewellery manufacturing are required to undertake the diploma. An ideal stepping stone to this programme is our Level 3 Diploma in Jewellery Design and Manufacturing. If you have not completed a L3 Diploma with BAJ you may be required to take a bench test.
Fees and funding
The course can be privately funded, co-funded, or funded through an Advanced Learner Loan. Full bursaries may be available for 16-18-year-olds based in London, subject to availability and eligibility. Funding may also be available for learners ages 19 and up via the Advanced Learner Loan.
-
£6,421 for learners eligible for the Advanced Learner Loan. -
£6,921 for learners not eligible for the Advanced Learner Loan, which includes international students who already have sponsorship.
To find out if you are eligible, please contact our recruitment team.
Case Study
Genevieve Schwartz, a graduate of BAJ, has had her pieces worn by Katherine Ryan and Emily Dean on BBC One. She was awarded Designer of the Year by NAJ for her professionalism, integrity, creativity, and consistency.
“Studying the Level 4 Diploma in Jewellery Design and Manufacturing helped me refine my vision, gain confidence in my creative instincts, and push my designs further.”
– Genevieve Schwartz
Careers and Progression
The Level 4 Diploma in Jewellery Design and Manufacturing opens doors to diverse career paths in the jewellery industry. With advanced technical skills and entrepreneurial knowledge, you’ll be prepared to:
– Pitch your jewellery collection to high street retailers.
– Launch your own independent jewellery brand.
Where You Can Study
Discover our campuses
BAJ Camden
81-84 Chalk Farm Rd,
London NW1 8AR
BAJ Camden
81-84 Chalk Farm Rd,
London NW1 8AR
More about BAJ Camden
BAJ Birmingham, Jewellery Quarter
The Assay Office, 1 Morton St,
Birmingham B1 3AX
BAJ Birmingham, Jewellery Quarter
The Assay Office, 1 Morton St,
Birmingham B1 3AX
More about BAJ Birmingham
BAJ Camden
81-84 Chalk Farm Rd,
London NW1 8AR
BAJ Camden
81-84 Chalk Farm Rd,
London NW1 8AR
More about BAJ Camden
Application Process
Thank you for expressing interest in our programme!
Our application process is designed to be as simple and straightforward as possible.
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– if there are insufficient student numbers to make the course financially viable.
