KEY POINTS:
Qualification: Diploma of Goldsmithing and Jewellery Advanced (Level 6).
Where: Peter Minturn Goldsmith School.
Contact: Ph: (09) 377 2468, email: info@jewel.school.nz , web: www.jewel.school.nz.
Entry requirements: Art folder and two-day audition of exercises demonstrating hand and eye co-ordination and drawing ability.
2008 course fees: $12,500 pa including 100g of silver.
Tool starting kit about $600.
Average starting hourly rate: $13-$16 an hour.
Student-staff ratio: Three full-time tutors and one part-timer for up to 20 students.
If you're artistic, love jewellery and want to do something practical, then how about jewellery-making as a career?
Peter Minturn, a jeweller with more than 45 years' experience in the trade, opened his own jewellery school on retiring in 2001.
He focuses on training students at the bench to be skilled in all aspects of jewellery-making. Three days a week, students do "the grunt and grind work" of rings, cufflinks and bracelets. The other two days, they work on artistic projects. The pass rate per assignment is 85 per cent, with students sometimes repeating exercises four or five times.
The three-year course has up to 20 students - four to six graduates each year - which is about the maximum per year the industry can take, says Minturn. Graduates leave with a three-dimensional portfolio of their work; an important tool for finding work.
GRADUATE
Asher Freeman
Jeweller at Carats Design
22
Graduated in 2006
I've been at Carats about 18 months. The job sort of fell in my lap. A stone dealer saw a bracelet I had finished at Minturn and mentioned it to the Carat guys who contacted the school and asked to meet me.
I am lucky because Carats is a creative high-end boutique jewellery business, where I'm given time to also do my own projects.
If I hadn't got this job, I would have headed overseas to find work with an established European company.
I became interested in metals after making a picture frame out of copper sheet at school. Then I made rings for my brother and sister and decided to look at jewellery courses.
I investigated different courses and also approached jewellers about apprenticeships. They all recommended Peter Minturn's school as the place to find good training.
There were six students in my first year and four in my last two years.
In the early stages, the emphasis was mostly on the technical side. We learned to make a lot of different things like rings and pendants, making sure it was done to a professional quality. The tutors demonstrated how to do each piece, and then guided us individually through making it, explaining each step as we reached it.
By the third year, the emphasis is more on creating beauty and elegance.
We learned mostly by working in silver, but you do get opportunities to work with other metals. I made a platinum wedding ring for my brother.
Silver is a good metal to learn with. It is easy to overheat, so you quickly learn good skills in controlling the heat of the metal you are working with.
This holds you in good stead with using other metals. Silver is also a lot cheaper than platinum or gold.
You keep everything you make, so you see your progress - and you have a portfolio at the end.
EMPLOYER
Grant Bagnall
Co-owner and jeweller of Carats Design Jewellery
Ash is the first school graduate we've had and we'd definitely look there again. A pool of skilled people to tap into like that is important to small businesses like ours.
We wanted someone familiar with the procedures and immediately able to make good jewellery - with some guidance.
We liked Ash's interest in the trade and desire to keep learning. People willing to listen and learn will go far.
He is also a perfectionist, which is really important. You could see it in his bracelet. He'd made every link by hand, yet it could have been a cast piece, it was that exact. It was a great reflection of his work ethic as well as his skills.
A good jeweller needs patience, a good eye for design, lines and proportion, and good technical skills.
Jewellers also need artistic flair and good interpersonal skills. And they must be honest. If you're not honest, your career in jewellery is numbered. Word gets out fast in a small trade.
I also like the graduate portfolio. It is much better than just a bit of paper.
We get people seeking work from overseas but we prefer to employ locally to support our local product, training and people. Peter is producing a good calibre of jeweller and I feel our industry has an obligation to support the school and offer jobs or we'll lose that talent overseas.
