Jewellery for Life and its Impacts on People

Jewellery is not only an engagement ring! Jewellery is known to us with its multifaceted roles and values in our life but its implications in the complexities of our society mostly go unnoticed. Although jewellery is widespread in our collective imaginary, it is connected too often with pure embellishment of the human body, and surprisingly rarely reflected upon in design.

To reflect on jewellery often involves thinking about luxury jewellery or their mass-produced copies. Jewellery research is crucial in how jewellery in action in our lives is understood, designed, and researched. In these times of urgent re-considerations and reflections on our actions, researchers are encouraged to reflect upon the impact of their artefacts in society.  Jewellery for Life provides opportunities to reflect on various possibilities of creating meaningful jewellery.

It offers a chance to explore multiple roles of jewellery across all areas of design, art and craft and their research. It instigates a discourse on jewellery as an aid for well-being, and as a cultural and participative design where the act of making becomes fundamental to bring participants’ knowledge expertise and experience to the fore front. It challenges preconceived ideas that jewellery is relegated to decorate the ‘female’ body as a trophy for the ‘male’ affirmation of his powerful status. Instead, Jewellery for Life shows this medium as a form of art that, for example, manifests political dissent.

Inevitably as jewellery has numerous roles in our lives, it brings joy, but it can also bring sadness as it is also associated to crime, and law. The so called ‘Jewellery law’ is an example of traumatic violence when the Danish authorities have the power to confiscate jewellery to arriving asylum seekers.


>> Full Programme


What the Symposium offers you:
- An engaging symposium filled with speakers from 8 countries featuring keynote presentations from Professor Jayne Wallace, Professor of Craft, Digital Creativity and Wellbeing, the School of Design; Northumbria University, England, and Professor Loretta Trickett, Professor in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Nottingham Law School; Nottingham Trent University, England.
- Lively workshops to expand your ideas about jewellery and making
- Agroup exhibition featuring works by Loughborough University alumni, doctoral researchers, tutors and ex-tutors 
- The screening of the docu-film Hunter from Elsewhere - A Journey with Helen Britton
- Great opportunities for conversations and networking     


International Selection Panel for Symposium: Prof. Cees De Bont, Dr Seçil Ugur Yavuz, Dr Roberta Bernabei, and Erinn M. Cox

The symposium and exhibition is delivered in partnership with the Goldsmiths’ Centre. Including support from Loughborough University SDCA, JJR Journal of Jewellery Research and AGC Associazione Gioiello Contemporaneo, Italy.


Travel & Accommodation Information
Loughborough is a small city and very walkable, including a charming town centre with shops, restaurants, pubs, and the like.  Loughborough University campus is very close to the town centre with lots of green spaces and walking paths.  Luckily, in planning our Symposium, we were able to secure our events in locations with close proximity to one another, but we do invite you to take a walk through campus while you are here as it is quite lovely.  As you begin to plan your travel, below you will find some information that may help as well as some links for resources in the area. 

For air travel to Loughborough: 
If you are flying into the UK, the closest airport is East Midlands (though it is small and limited in number of airlines that service here) so most will more than likely fly into London or Birmingham.  From either of these cities, you can then take a train into Loughborough.  If you are within the UK, you may elect to use a train as well as this may be easier than airline travel.  At the Loughborough train station, taxis are available at front entrance to take you to your accommodation as well as buses if your prefer.  

Accommodations in Loughborough: 
Accommodations here are a bit limited as it is a small city, so you will want to book this sooner rather than later.  You can do web searches for Loughborough of course and you will find options for hotels, airbnbs, and bed & breakfasts; but below are some links you may find useful as you begin your search: 
- Airbnb
- Premier Inn
- Travel Lodge
- Burleigh Court