Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School

School / CriticalThinking Design Making Technics ProfessionalPractice Research

Published: 26.09.2018

News!

New deadlines and dates to apply for the 2019 MFA, BFA and Intensive Jewellery Design Courses.

: Piazza della Piattellina 3r
50124 - Florence
ITALY

: Website Alchimia; Facebook Alchimia; Blog Alchimia

Mail:: infoalchimia.it

Phone:: +39 055 2396154

Management:: Lucia Massei

Views of the school

There cannot be any true innovation without the knowledge of what came before. Tradition and innovation, like mind and hand, need to move together.

Statement

Alchimia contemporary jewellery school was founded in 1998 by Lucia Massei and Doris Maninger. The expansive two-year BFA and MFA programs have been developed over more than a decade of experience in close collaboration with a team of international teachers and advisors, all leaders in their respective creative realms.

Alchimia’s objective is to teach students to express their creativity through contemporary jewelry, developing high-quality technical and theoretical skills. By adopting the technological developments of our time and the most experimental cultural trends, Alchimia encourages its students to enhance their talents. Its focus draws on the revision and adoption of traditional techniques and carefully selected materials combined with experimental and groundbreaking approaches to design, teaching students how to transform ideas and research paths in jewelry and design objects, and how to access the working context.

The students of Alchimia are mentored and tutored by a team of experts in jewellery, design, and the visual arts. While using their own experiences as reference, tutors profess techniques, tendencies, and developments in the field of contemporary jewellery and propound emergences in personal creativity by offering tailored guidance and evaluation over the course of the students’s academic years.

The school has obtained full accreditation of its artistic and pedagogic values and is officially qualified for Europen Bachelor of Fine Arts & European Master of Fine Arts by the the European Accreditaion Board of Higher Education EABHES.

Master Tutors
Lucy Sarneel
Evert Nijland

Courses

Intensive Jewellery and Design Courses

01Jan2019 - 31Dec2020

DEADLINE: 15/Dec/2019

Application
Tags: OpenAllYear
Management person: Lucia Massei

Dates: The courses have open dates throughout the year, beginning each Monday. Ask for availability, only 8 spots offered.

The intensive jewellery courses are workshops with personalized curricula, designed to meet today’s needs for intense, specialized, individual coaching. The programs range from a sneak peek into jewellery making to highly specialized professional training. The proposed curricula function as guidelines to be further discussed and fine-tuned with teachers and staff to meet each student’s specific need. A very flexible schedule allows students to individually choose the course dates, beginning on Mondays and ending on Fridays during the entire year. The weekly course schedule comprises 30 hours of practical jewellery making and two hours of analysis and creative advice.

Whom are they made for: Beginners, designers, professors, jewelers who want to specialize on a specific technique, or jewellery artists that necessitate a period of full immersion to have new creative stimulus.
Duration: from a minimum of two weeks to a maximum of three months.
Schedule: 30 hours of class per week / Monday/Friday 9.00–13.00/14.00–16.00; critic session will be plan.

All the materials used for the course (excluding gold and precious stones) are provided by the school as well as all the necessary tools.

For more detailed information visit the Website

Bachelor of Fine Arts

03Sep2019 - 14Jul2021

DEADLINE: 31/May/2019

Application
Management person: Lucia Massei

The two-year BFA program offers a comprehensive grounding in contemporary jewellery and jewellery design to those without prior experience or possession of jewellery-making skills in a relatively short time. The course begins with traditional techniques and skills in the construction and design of jewellery, and then introduces the students to new technologies, creative use of re-sources, and material expression for originality in design. The program is divided into six 14-week modules that provide, through a challenging but organic full-immersion process, a balanced combination of practice and theoretical principles.
In the vein of Alchimia’s philosophy, the program nurtures an approach to learning that merges the theoretical, the pragmatic, and the experiential, tradition and innovation, in order to develop confidence, skill, creativity, and imagination. It is tailored to each student individually, with teachers providing personal coaching, and builds on a variety of differ-ent professional experiences, including carefully selected study trips both locally and abroad.
These two years may function as a self-contained program for those interested in achieving high-level results in the short term, and/or prepare for admission to a master’s program in contemporary jewellery and body ornament.

Qualification: Bachelor of Fine Arts
Duration: 2 years
Fees: For more detailed information on fees

Main areas of study

History of Art
Gemology
The Creative Process
Goldsmith and Jewellery Lab
Technology
Jewellery Design
3D Prototyping
History of Jewellery
Strategies for Creative Development
Goldsmithing / Jewellery Lab Advanced
Advanced Technology
Advanced Drawing and Design
Reflective Analysis
Professional Research
Independent Professional Practice
Contemporary Jewellery History
Thesis

For more detailed information visit the Website

Master of Fine Art: Degree in Contemporary Jewellery and Body Ornament

03Sep2019 - 31Dec2021

DEADLINE: 31/May/2019

Application
Tags: Master
Management person: Lucia Massei

Alchimia’s MFA program develops over a two-year period with the aim to expand and deepen the students’ knowledge and skills in studio-based jewellery design. The program is intended to generate further critical understanding in and of the discipline, strengthen individual artistic approaches and positions, and investigate new possibilities for marketing and promotion.
The objective of the course is to render the students independent and qualitatively highly prepared in every aspect of their work, not only including research, creation, and production, but also networking, and exhibiting and self-presentation in relation to galleries and collectors.
A personal tutor appointed by the school will follow their developments, while intensive workshops, seminars, and training periods are held in Florence.
Special attention is put on the ability to position one’s own work within a contemporary context and to critically evaluate and debate one’s progress. The program also involves more collective activities, such as the realization of events, comprising the complete production process — including fundraising, curating, and writing the appropriate texts.
The students enrolled in our second year of the MFA, who would like to stay in Florence, have the access to a workshop space exclusively designed for them.

Qualification: Master of Fine Art, major in Jewellery Design and Body Ornament.
Duration: 2 years
Fees: More information on fees

Main areas of study: