EDUCATION

Learning begins with attention.

Education at ELIRD grew gradually from our own studio practice and from the questions that have accompanied our work for years: how do we learn to see proportion, recognise when a form is balanced, understand material through touch, and know when to add, remove or stop?

Technique is part of this process, but technique alone is never the aim.

Our teaching begins with observation. Drawing develops the relationship between the eye and the hand. Sculpture introduces volume, balance, structure and tension. Repetition makes small differences visible. Material introduces its own logic and requires decisions that cannot always be made in advance.

Over time, these exercises move towards jewellery and the scale of the object.

Students learn to understand a piece as a whole: its form, weight, surface, construction, relationship to the body, and the sequence of decisions through which it comes into being. Wax, metal, stone, relief, engraving, surface treatments and other studio processes are introduced according to the level and purpose of each programme.

The intention is to build a foundation from which an individual language can develop.

Education within a working atelier

ELIRD is a working fine jewellery studio, and teaching takes place within that environment.

Students encounter the reality of making: unfinished work, material limitations, technical problems, failed attempts, revisions and the many decisions that exist between an initial idea and a completed object.

This proximity to practice is essential to the way we teach.

Some knowledge can be explained. Other knowledge develops through repetition, observation and the gradual education of the hand.

For this reason, our educational formats remain deliberately small. Working with a limited number of participants allows teaching to remain direct, attentive and responsive to the individual.

Advanced Studio Training

Advanced Studio Training is ELIRD’s most extensive educational format.

Developed for those who wish to build a serious foundation in jewellery and object making, the programme brings together drawing, sculpture, design development and studio practice over an extended period.

Students progress through structured exercises before moving towards increasingly independent work. Particular attention is given to proportion, form, repetition, material understanding and the ability to recognise and resolve problems through making.

Depending on the stage of study, the programme may include wax modelling, metalwork, carving, relief, surface development, casting processes, stone work and other techniques used within the ELIRD studio.

The purpose is not to reproduce an ELIRD aesthetic. Each student is expected to gradually develop greater independence of judgement and a language of their own.

Advanced Studio Training is offered periodically according to the capacity of the atelier.

Internships and professional practice

ELIRD hosts a limited number of students and emerging practitioners for internships and periods of professional studio practice.

We have welcomed participants through international mobility programmes as well as independent placements, and we collaborate with educational institutions when the structure of the programme corresponds with the nature of our studio.

Each placement is considered individually.

Duration, previous experience, areas of interest and learning objectives are important because an internship inside a two person atelier requires close involvement from both the student and the studio.

Placements may involve observation, exercises, technical practice and participation in aspects of everyday studio work, depending on the student’s level and the projects taking place at the time.

Short Studio Practice

Shorter periods of focused study are available for those who cannot undertake extended training.

These sessions are developed around a clearly defined area of practice and are most suitable for students, designers and practitioners who already know what they wish to investigate.

Rather than attempting to cover many techniques in a short period, the work is concentrated and individual.

Availability depends on the working schedule of the studio.

Studio Ring Experience

The ELIRD Studio Ring Experience offers a first encounter with jewellery making through a single object.

During a private studio session, participants work alongside us to complete their own sterling silver ring. They choose one of a small number of surfaces, work directly on the metal, refine and polish the piece, and may add a short inscription inside.

The ring model is intentionally predefined so that attention can remain on material, surface, tools and the experience of making by hand.

Each session is limited to a maximum of two participants, and no previous experience is required.

Teaching and academic collaboration

Our educational work extends beyond the atelier through teaching, mentoring and collaboration with universities and other educational institutions.

These contexts allow us to work with students at different stages of their development and to examine questions of form, observation, process and material beyond the immediate framework of jewellery.

Teaching also feeds back into the studio.

A decision that has become intuitive through years of practice has to be examined again when it is explained to another person. An exercise repeated by many different hands reveals possibilities and difficulties that may otherwise remain unnoticed.

In this sense, education has become another way of studying our own practice.

Enquiries

Places within all ELIRD educational formats are intentionally limited and availability follows the working rhythm of the atelier.

For information about Advanced Studio Training, internships, short studio practice, institutional collaborations or the Studio Ring Experience, please contact us with a brief introduction and the format you are interested in.