Estonian Academy of Arts

Department of Jewellery and Blacksmithing

The Estonian Academy of Arts is the only institution in Estonia that educates professionals in the jewellery and blacksmithing fields at the BA and MA levels. Our aim is to provide the students with a general knowledge in the humanities; to develop their abilities in the visual arts; and their self-expression skills in the jewellery and blacksmithing arts. And also, to provide them with the knowledge and skills for specialised work, by developing their talents and creative thinking.

The faculty members in the jewellery and blacksmithing department are working artists, who actively show their work in Estonia and abroad, participate in specialised projects, deal with professional development, write and publish articles and books, and participate, as experts, on panels and in decision-making bodies.

Generally, the orientation in design is on unique jewellery, and in blacksmithing, on architectural details and monumental art objects.

The people who significantly shape our environment should be more than simply artisans, but professional artists and designers, who can be equal partners with architects and interior designers – the department’s blacksmithing side deals with this.

Since 1999, EAA has been taking part in the European Union educational programs Socrates/Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci.
We have signed bilateral agreements for cooperation with many universities in several countries across Europe and America (e.g., Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and USA).

The main feature of the curricula is a combination of traditional skills and contemporary thought.

Chairs of jewellery and blacksmithing have a joint Bachelor's curriculum, but within its frames a separate admission of students and an immediate specialization either in the field of jewellery or blacksmithing takes place. In addition to specific specialty-focused study (jewellery project, technology courses, history of the design), the curriculum of jewellery and blacksmithing includes also an artist's project with an aim of evoking creative impulses in students and promoting one's individuality under the instruction of acknowledged artists. The program includes also general art subjects: drawing, plastic anatomy, painting, sculpture, color study, and humanities. As the department belongs in the Faculty of Design, its students can acquire skills and knowledge related to product design, business, and product management. However, in the curriculum of jewellery the main emphasis is laid on creative projects, on the concentration on the sacral and ritual meaning of jewellery, and the aim of the school to contrast with pragmatism.
Practices and master classes serve to deepen the professional technological skills. An extracurricular workshop, supervised by an international visiting artist, takes place every semester, plus lectures of visiting teachers.
 

Jewellery and Blacksmithing Bachelor & Master
Piret Hirv - Head of the department, Associate professor
Nils HInt - Associate professor
Urmas Lüüs - Lecturer
Eve Margus - Lecturer

35 internationally acclaimed artists have taught at our department in the last 10 years: Bettina Speckner, Karl Fritsch, Manuel Vilhena, Peter de Wit, Ted Noten, Ramon Puig Cuyas, Giovanni Corvaja, Noam Ben-Jacov, Paul Derrez, Peter Skubic, Manfred Bischoff, Robert Baines, Cristina Filipe, Iris Eichenberg, and many others.