Hochschule Trier

Responsibility: The 3-P-Modell as leitmotiv 

Three closely interlaced goals lead our activities:

- Developing Professionalism: The basis of each successful achievement is professionalism. Therefore we aim at a high level - in the theoretical knowledge, in practical being able, in the creative development. Thus for example the studying in cooperation with enterprises become acquainted with professional yardsticks for Design quality.
- Designing Projects: A condition for lasting learning effects is own doing. Therefore we cooperate in projects, which promote selfinitiative, self-assertion and team spirit. To mention is for instance the common conception of exhibitions or the participation in fairs with own collections.
- Supporting Personalities: The training of the personality needs a development area - straight within Design and Art. Therefore we offer a study with high degree of freedom and many perspectives. The participation on competitions, scholarships, study trips or foreign terms promote the development of artistic personalities. 


Studying in the Department for Gemstones and Jewellery in Idar-Oberstein

Data and facts
- Jewellery is not craft. There is a cross-section with the masterly craftsmanship, but the contemporary Jewellery focus is another
- Jewellery is not design. There is a cross-section with the fashionable aesthetic and commercialization, but the contemporary jewellery focus is another.
- Jewellery is not art. There is a cross-section with "existing out of itself", but the contemporary "Jewellery-focus" is another. But the goal is not to create or sharpen boundaries. 

As an object of personal use, jewellery needs without any doubt a distinctive or connecting level of meaning. This is also reflected in consumer needs. The Faculty ties in these levels and asks questions about art, social and intercultural life, ethnology and history. 

The programme is orientated at some qualification goals which include artistic competencies, commitment to civil societies, and personal development. According to those competencies, we also foster communication competencies, coordination and organisation competencies. The central approach of the programme is to develop design structures and thinking structures of artistic action which are orientated to the social and cultural requirements of the 21st century. The field of learning is specifically dedicated to evolve the students own artistic identity. It is coined by a profoundly intercultural environment and a highly communicative teaching and study situation. The graduates of our school should be enabled during their studies to focus first on the different roles of wearer and beholder and also on their role as creators.

Art should ask questions in a way of abstraction. Jewellery enables us to build a connection between our roots and our current surroundings. Because of this possibility, we can notice changes in our surroundings and react appropriately.  
The creator of art has to be aware of his own positioning concerning their own symbolism, semantics, and iconography. He has to question and evaluate their own creation and artistic strategies, and, if necessary, to rework and actualize them, to have a social meaning in a contemporary context. 

To say it a little easier: The artist reflects the surrounding society, processes and sensitivities by creating a piece of art. This piece of art gains a place within society and changes it. Society reacts, and the artist registers the reaction and creates a new piece of work based on those reactions and experiences. This circuit means a permanent update of pieces, a permanent change, and a mental evolution. That way jewellery stays in contact with society. Not controlled by marketing strategies, mercantile values or fashionable ephemerality. No aesthetical blunting but making the mental, emotional or social evolution ascertainable. This process generates identity for the creator and the recipient.