As many of us have more time on our hands, we’ve turned to learning and upskilling during lockdown. Many organisations have run free webinars and other learning opportunities so it made sense to do as much as I can, while I have the time.

I don’t think learning ever stops and being a designer, I’m always curious to learn more, ask questions and think of new ways of working. 

What have you been learning?

It’s fair enough if you say ‘nothing’! I know people are all taking this at their own pace.

The Jeweller Support Network was set up by the National Association of Jewellers (NAJ) and other partners, to help jewellers during the pandemic, and is the central resource for all the learning tools and webinars and where I heard about most of the things below.

They also created the #supportyourlocaljeweller as an online campaign.

I went through the guide and found many resources and tried to do as many as possible including the De Beers Group, Diamond Foundation course.  This course was free to the first 100 NAJ members to apply (from the Jeweller Support Network). It was comprehensive and fabulous. Split into eight modules, starting with the crystallography and creation. I found it fascinating. I also really enjoyed the module on cutting and polishing, having had a go myself.

I passed first time! :)

NAJ were also offering one free module of their JET Essentials Certification, I chose the Design module, and learnt a lot about jewellery design from the classic design houses, all the way up to contemporary British jewellers!

NAJ also held fascinating talks by contemporary British jewellers, with Stephen Webster’s being my favourite, as I’m a big fan of his pieces, which feature some amazing stones, cut in all sorts of ways - his pieces are rather unique and certainly eye-catching.

Then I moved onto the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Diamond Essentials course. Also ‘Jewelry Essentials’ and ‘Colored Gemstone Essentials’. I’ve just started the first of these three modules. Together they count towards their Applied Jewelry Professional Program.

Rui Galopim de Carvalho FGA DGA is a gemmologist from Portugal and has been presenting the most wonderful webinars (with the support of CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation) during lockdown. I’ve just finished watching one on early sapphires and I’ve watched webinars on:

• Famous Pearls

• Jadeite Jade

• Ruby, a historical review

• Brazilian Gemstones of the 18th century

• Precious Opal

• Precious Corals

• Emeralds, a historical review

• Field Gemmology with Vincent Pardieu

And it’s not only webinars I’ve been on …

Gem Kreatives held a range of brilliant Instagram live talks on subjects such as:

• Jewellery photoshoot styling

• Jewellery videography

• Make up for jewellery models.

• Jewellery illustration and

• Jeweller branding

Also, Kerry Gregory from Gemmology Rocks has been hosting fabulous Facebook live ‘Gin & Gemstone’ talks and quizzes about gemmology every week.

Phew!

I’ve done more than I’ve talked about here, but it shows that when you have time and you invest in your own learning, it can make a difference to your knowledge and can add real value to your business.

Key takeaways for me to implement in JTJ now are to:

• Continue the GIA Essentials courses

• Review the CIBJO Blue Books (which were free to download during lockdown)

• Continue learning about gemmology

• Share my knowledge with my clients and here on my blog