Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School
Published: 24.02.2021
alchimia.it
There cannot be any true innovation without the knowledge of what came before. Tradition and innovation, like mind and hand, need to move together.
Alchimia contemporary jewellery school was founded in 1998 and currently directed by Lucia Massei. 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’ 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 European Accreditation Board of Higher Education EABHES.
Management Person: Lucia Massei
Master program permanent team:
Tutors: Evert Nijland, Lucia Massei.
Teachers: Lucia Massei, Sana Khalil, David Clarke, Benjamin Lignel, Akis Goumas, Riccardo Lami, Antonio Marsala, Federico Cavicchioli.
Lectures / Workshops
2005 Charon Kransen - 2006/11 Giovanni Corvaja - 2006 Peter Skubic - 2007 Iris Eichenberg - 2007 Stefano Marchetti - 2008 Bernhard Schobinger - 2009 Mari Ishikawa - 2009/14 Lucy Sarneel - 2010 Robert Smit - 2010/15/17 Ruudt Peters - 2010 Deganit Schocken - 2011/12/13/14/15/16 Christoph Zellweger - 2011/12/13 Sung-Ho Cho - 2012- Nikolas Kirchner - 2013 Jamie Bennett - 2013 Evert Nijland - 2014 Ferran Iglesias -2014 Myra Mimlitsch Gray - 2014 Andronikos Sagiannos - 2014 Daniela Malev - 2015 Pravu Mazumdar - 2015 Ulo Florak - 2015 Uly Reithofer – 2015/16 Silvia Weidenbach - 2016/17/18 Akis Goumas – 2016/17/18 Attai Chen - 2017 Georgia Gremouti - 2017/18 David Clarke - 2018 Giampaolo Babetto - 2018 Marta Mattson – 2018 Nedda el Asmar - 2019 Benedikt Fischer – 2019 Patrick Davison - 2019 Yuka Oyama – 2019 Kimiaki Kageyama
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’ 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 European Accreditation Board of Higher Education EABHES.
Management Person: Lucia Massei
Master program permanent team:
Tutors: Evert Nijland, Lucia Massei.
Teachers: Lucia Massei, Sana Khalil, David Clarke, Benjamin Lignel, Akis Goumas, Riccardo Lami, Antonio Marsala, Federico Cavicchioli.
Lectures / Workshops
2005 Charon Kransen - 2006/11 Giovanni Corvaja - 2006 Peter Skubic - 2007 Iris Eichenberg - 2007 Stefano Marchetti - 2008 Bernhard Schobinger - 2009 Mari Ishikawa - 2009/14 Lucy Sarneel - 2010 Robert Smit - 2010/15/17 Ruudt Peters - 2010 Deganit Schocken - 2011/12/13/14/15/16 Christoph Zellweger - 2011/12/13 Sung-Ho Cho - 2012- Nikolas Kirchner - 2013 Jamie Bennett - 2013 Evert Nijland - 2014 Ferran Iglesias -2014 Myra Mimlitsch Gray - 2014 Andronikos Sagiannos - 2014 Daniela Malev - 2015 Pravu Mazumdar - 2015 Ulo Florak - 2015 Uly Reithofer – 2015/16 Silvia Weidenbach - 2016/17/18 Akis Goumas – 2016/17/18 Attai Chen - 2017 Georgia Gremouti - 2017/18 David Clarke - 2018 Giampaolo Babetto - 2018 Marta Mattson – 2018 Nedda el Asmar - 2019 Benedikt Fischer – 2019 Patrick Davison - 2019 Yuka Oyama – 2019 Kimiaki Kageyama
Courses
Intensive Jewellery and Design Courses
04Jan2021 - 17Dec2021DEADLINE: 31/Dec/2021
Application
Tags: OpenAllYearCourse
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 in a specific technique, or jewellery artists that necessitate a period of full immersion to have a 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 planned.
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
Oxygen O2
01Sep2021 - 31Dec2021DEADLINE: 30/Aug/2021
Application
Tags: ArtistInResidence , ProfessionalPractice
Management person: Lucia Massei
Alchimia responds with an idea that swims against the tide: OXYGEN O2.
This is not an academic course.
This is not an intensive or summer course.
OXYGEN O2 is a way of dedicating time to yourself, finding new avenues for your own creative research, and formulating your own personalized study program.
This opportunity has been conceived for people who are already independent with regards to the techniques of jewellery making, who want to once again become students within a lively and stimulating environment, and who are looking for space where they can experiment and regenerate their own creative capacity, in a city that is famous all over the world for its artistic and cultural heritage.
Each edition of OXYGENO2 lasts 3 months, during which it is possible to formulate an open study program based on your own needs and objectives.
Location: Alchimia, Piazza Piattellina 3/r, Firenze
Duration: 3 months (Monday to Friday: 9 am - 6 pm)
– from Sep to Dec.
– from Jan to April.
– from April to July.
Cost: €5,000
Program:
- 2-week intensive course, either consecutively or divided into two one-week courses. The program of the intensive course is planned between the student and the teacher and is usually based on learning a particular technique or finding solutions to specific technical problems.
- 4 sessions on critiquing. The critiquing sessions are opportunities for discussions on projects and their potential evolution.
- Fully equipped workbench with flame and toolbox.
- Theoretical lessons: the history of art, history of jewellery, history of contemporary jewellery, history of contemporary art.
- Participation in a weekly laboratory session to be scheduled according to the academic calendar and available teachers.
- Participation in a workshop or in a weekend course.
- Access to the Alchimia Library
- Firenze Card: prioritized access to 72 art galleries and museums
Who is it for?
OXYGEN O2 has been conceived for jewellery artists who are already at an advanced technical level, with an independent spirit and the capacity to share.
How to apply?
Required: Portfolio + CV + cover letter + associated project
Master of Fine Arts, Major in Contemporary Jewellery and Cultural Identity
02Sep2021 - 22Jul2023DEADLINE: 30/Aug/2021
Application
Tags: MADegree , Making , Technics
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 Arts, Major in Contemporary Jewellery and Cultural Identity.
Duration: 2 years
Fees: More information on fees
Italian students enjoy a 10% discount on academic course prices for the 2021 - 2022 academic year.
Main areas of study:
- New Perspectives in Modern & Contemporary Art History
- Goldsmithing & Technical Jewelry Lab Specialization
- Jewelry Photography & Digital Photo Processing
- Material Experimentation
- Research Methodologies & Processes
- Advanced 3d Digital Design
- Cultural Analysis Trough The Arts
- Exhibition Curating for the Applied Arts
- Visual Communication Development
- Guided Professional Research
- Independent Professional Practice
- Marketing and Web Development
- Thesis
Teacher: Evert Nijland , Lucia Massei
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major Contemporary Jewellery
02Sep2021 - 22Jul2023DEADLINE: 30/Aug/2021
Application
Tags: Research , Making , Technics
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 resources, 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 different 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
Italian students enjoy a 10% discount on academic course prices for the 2021 - 2022 academic year.
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
Events 
Publications
Transaction MFA II 2018, Work in progress exhibition in Amsterdam, curated by Lucy Sarneel.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Necklace: In Conflict, 2016
Wood, leather, iron.
18 x 8 x 8 cm
From series: In Conflict
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Brooch: Nomen Nescio, 2016
Iron, steel.
12 x 6 x 5 cm
From series: Nomen Nescio
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Brooch: Look Gently Series No.14, 2018
Paper, silver, stainless steel pin, cold enamel, varnish.
10.3 x 9.6 x 5.6 cm
From series: Look Gently
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Necklace: Controlled Freedom, 2015
Glass, aegirine.
From series: True Lies
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Ring: Fortezza, 2017
Shibuichi, black coral, silver, melted amber.
5.3 x 3.3 cm
From series: Gimmel
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Drawing Class at Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
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