Precious Education. A jewellery project in secondary school by Katharina Moch.

The starting point for this project was the journey of a friend of mine to Afghanistan. Together with a film group, she went there to make a documentary entitled Afghanistan: Aufbruch wohin? (Afghanistan: departure where to?). It focuses on schools scattered outside Herat, some of which have been financed with foreign money.
The sensitive film crew managed to impressively show under which conditions education happens, how highly people value it and how much they hope for a better future: You see children who go to school with enthusiasm and are grateful to have a solid house around them. In another school without foreign support, lessons take place under disastrous circumstances. In spite of all the difficulties, parents (often themselves illiterate) appreciate that their children are given a chance.


I have involved young people with a project where they turned thrown away school materials into jewellery. This aimed at raising the issue of the importance of education and its poor conditions in underdeveloped countries such as Afghanistan and furthermore sensitizing them and the viewer to trigger thoughts, ideas and dialogues. To create jewellery, something that is linked to luxury, out of discarded school materials – a thought provoking impulse.

We take for granted what others can just dream of – what is thrown away in our Western societies is an absolute luxury in other parts of the world. Education in Afghanistan, for example, is highly valued: Kids are incredibly grateful to be able to go to school, but education takes place – if at all – under appalling circumstances. Nevertheless, receiving any sort of education in hope for a better future is highly appreciated.

I have chosen old school materials for this project to make kids aware of the fact, how well they and our schools are equipped, and of how lucky they are to receive a good education.

I want them to think about how much we should value education – our most precious and important commodity. Very often valuable materials like gold, silver and stones are used to make jewellery – in this project cast off school materials are the main components to visualize the preciousness of education and provoke discussion.

All the materials we collected for this project where about to be thrown away. Many of the materials were still in good condition but rejected anyway. I want to trigger curiosity and start a conversation: The old materials are telling their very own stories, and I hope they invite people to talk.

About the author

I was born in Donaueschingen, a small town in the south of Germany. After completing school I did a 3-year goldsmithing apprenticeship (awarded 1^st place chamber of crafts) at Goldsmithing Studio Probst and the Professional school, Pforzheim. Since 2002 I have been self-employed as an artist and in that same year, I started to study Art and English to become a secondary teacher. After finishing my studies at the University in Freiburg and completing my teacher training I went to Birmingham to do my MA in Jewellery, Silversmithing and Related Products and successfully graduated (with Distinction) in 2009. Since 2010 I have been living and working in Konstanz as a jewellery artist as well as a secondary teacher.
/ Katharina Moch