The Association for Contemporary Jewellery

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The Association for Contemporary Jewellery

The Association for Contemporary Jewellery is devoted to the promotion, representation, understanding and development of contemporary jewellery in the United Kingdom and abroad.

 

Website: http://www.acj.org.uk/
Location: UK
Members: 67
Latest Activity: Oct 11, 2020

The Association for Contemporary Jewellery

is devoted to the promotion, representation, understanding and development of contemporary jewellery in the United Kingdom and abroad.

Founded as a membership association in 1997 and registered as a Limited Company in 2006, it recognises a need to foster discussion, debate and critical review and interaction amongst its members. To this end we organise conferences, lectures, seminars, workshops and an annual general meeting for our members. Our regular newsletter, findings, features reviews, information, comment, book offers and discounts and is of benefit to both our members and the wider public. We also produce a monthly e-bulletin featuring news and opportunities.

We welcome as members practising jewellers, associated designers and crafts people, educators, students, gallery owners and retailers, museum curators, critics and collectors - indeed, anyone with an interest in contemporary jewellery.


The Association for Contemporary Jewellery 
PO Box 37807 London SE23 1XJ United Kingdom 
Telephone: + 00 44 (0)20 8291 4201 
Fax: + 00 44 (0)20 8291 4452 
Email: enquiries@acj.org.uk

 

WHAT WE DO

• promote greater understanding of contemporary jewellery
• support jewellers’ creative and professional development
• develop audiences for this lively field of contemporary craft and design

Discussion Forum

streamlining our pages

Started by Rebecca Skeels Oct 11, 2020. 0 Replies

Dear All Members, Followers and Likers of our Network pages.We are currently streamlining our pages at the moment and have found that fewer people are now following and using twitter and crafthaus to find out about jewellery events, exhibitions, opportunities, seeing new work and generally chatting about jewellery.If you use these, please head over to our other pages on other platforms: -Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Association.Contemporary.Jewellery/Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/3628898/Linkedin Business page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/association-for-contemporary-jewellery-limitedInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/acj.org.uk/and of course, our main website…Continue

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Comment by Rebecca Skeels on March 8, 2015 at 1:57pm
experienced goldsmith / mounter, the london art works - london
http://benchpeg.com/jobs/offered/experienced-goldsmith-mounter-the-...
Comment by Rebecca Skeels on March 8, 2015 at 1:56pm
Part time assistance required with bench work for high quality precious gem-set pieces, plus general studio duties, in East Surrey studio / workshop. Practical benchwork / finishing skills essential, including cleaning castings and soldering. Skills in photography, photoshop or CAD also preferred.

contact lesley.norton@inplant.net for more information
Comment by Rebecca Skeels on March 8, 2015 at 9:57am
Back issues for sale to all, please contact: enquiries@acj.org.uk

Findings is the ACJ magazine for members. Published twice a year and posted to members, it reviews shows, technical innovations, materials and subjects of interest to makers, collectors, galleries and museums.

We are grateful for assistance from the Goldsmiths' Company, who have enabled us to publish these back issues online.

http://www.acj.org.uk/index.php/findings-magazine
Comment by Rebecca Skeels on March 8, 2015 at 9:55am
Sleight of Hand applications open

We are now welcoming applications for the 2015 ACJ tour Sleight of Hand.

Closing date 16th April 2015.

This latest ACJ Members' exhibition will tour to the Brewhouse in Burton upon Trent, the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, and to Plymouth College of Arts. The tour starts at the end of August and finishes in mid-December 2015

This year there is no application fee; instead, selected participants will contribute £75 (£60 for students & new graduates).

The theme is Sleight of Hand - clever fingers, magic, deception, smoke & mirrors, craftiness, sheer skill.... We expect the usual inventiveness, wit, panache and very high standards of design & making.

The application form is available to members by email : enquiries@acj.org.uk
Closing date 16th April
Comment by Rebecca Skeels on March 8, 2015 at 9:46am
KNOW ANY EMERGING DESIGNERS?
IJL and the BJA are looking for emerging UK designers who want to take their business to the next level!

Do you know anyone who may be interested? Please forward this email onto them, to give them the chance to boost their brand, with the help of IJL and BJA.

KickStart entries close in 1 week and IJL don't want any UK talent to miss out on this fantastic opportunity!

Deadline 13th March 2015
http://www.jewellerylondon.com/en/Whats_On/kickstart2015/
Comment by Rebecca Skeels on March 8, 2015 at 9:45am
Art Jewelry Forum Releases Shows and Tales
New Title Puts Contemporary Jewelry in Its Place

Mill Valley, California, USA (March 7, 2015)--Flush with the glow of a successful Kickstarter campaign, Art Jewelry Forum (AJF) is dashing off to Munich to debut its latest publication, Shows and Tales: On Jewelry Exhibition-Making, at internationally renowned annual art jewelry fair Schmuck. This title is the fourth in a steadily growing list produced by AJF, the global nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the creation, study, and appreciation of art jewelry.

AJF set out to fill a gap in the critical writing capturing the bubbling landscape of contemporary art jewelry, and to make an authoritative history out of 60-plus years of this fluid discipline. Ambitious undertakings have a way of inviting inevitable surprises, but the biggest surprise for AJF was the overwhelming support for the book project from the art jewelry community, which not only met the organization's $12,000 Kickstarter goal but doubled it. This kind of enthusiasm also conveys a thinly veiled message: This better be good!



Shows and Tales answers that challenge. Over the past six decades, jewelry exhibitors have played musical chairs to a very D.I.Y. score--artists mount exhibitions in their bedrooms, museums invite amateurs to curate shows from their collections (and let the visitors handle work!), students wearing jewelry parade the streets in white overalls. Despite how extremely busy jewelry curators have been, the variety of their approaches is so rarely acknowledged, or taken seriously, as is the extent to which curation transforms the viewer's perception: until now, there has never been a publication on exhibition-making with jewelry as its focal point.

Shows and Tales remedies this absence by addressing the topic of "exhibiting jewelry" in several ways. It features
a series of commissioned articles on landmark exhibitions
commissioned essays by, and discussions with, curators on the challenges of curating jewelry
select exhibition reviews from Art Jewelry Forum's archives tracking recent experimentation with display strategies
a detailed checklist of more than 30 exhibitions
Toni Greenbaum, a world-renowned art historian and curator specializing in 20th- and 21st-century jewelry and metalwork says: Finally, a book that puts contemporary jewelry in its place! Shows dedicated to modern and contemporary jewelry have a history that spans 70 years. Some of the most authoritative voices in the field today contribute essays that investigate all aspects of this international pursuit. Art Jewelry Forum is on the forefront of cogent publications within the discipline. Shows and Tales is an essential undertaking.

The book will be available to purchase in Munich from March 11-17 in the Frame section of Schmuck, booth #B1.771 (Galerie Marzee's booth) and at various locations throughout Munich. Online purchase of the book is available now; shipment begins March 20.

Specifications:
Paperback with flaps, 264 pages, full-color illustrations.
Editor and designer: Benjamin Lignel.
Release date: March 2015.

http://www.artjewelryforum.org/bookstore/ajf-publications?utm_sourc...
Comment by Rebecca Skeels on March 6, 2015 at 1:55am
Handmade in Britain 15:
The Contemporary Crafts & Design Fair
Chelsea Old Town Hall | 13 - 15 Nov 2015

At Handmade in Britain we are known for our top selling events for designer-makers and this year we're delighted to be returning to the beautiful Chelsea Old Town Hall for the ninth year of The Contemporary Crafts and Design Fair. Over three days we will showcase the best work of over 100 highly skilled, UK-based designer-makers.

Apply Now
Application & Selection
Applications are now welcome from individuals and groups who work in the following disciplines: furniture, metalwork, ceramics, fashion & textiles, glass, jewellery, stationery, sculpture, woodwork, prints and etchings - please check the application pack for details.
http://www.handmadeinbritain.co.uk/assets/Chelsea-15/Application-Pa...
Comment by Rebecca Skeels on March 1, 2015 at 12:58pm

http://ccskills.org.uk/careers/advice/article/casting-technician?ut...

Casting Technician
Casting involves pouring molten metal into a mould and allowing it to solidify. Casting technicians work with a range of metals to produce jewellery pieces.

Casting can be used to make a whole piece of jewellery or component parts. Photo: Holts Academy
What do casting technicians do?
Casting involves pouring molten metal into a mould and allowing it to solidify. Casting can be used to make a whole piece of jewellery or component parts.

Casting can be used to make a whole piece of jewellery or component parts.
The technique allows the same piece to be made over and over again exactly the same, but casting can also be used to make one-off pieces.

Casting technicians work with a variety of metals, including gold, silver, platinum, palladium and titanium and pewter.

Casting can be used to make jewellery in:

individual hand-made studio pieces
batch production
large-scale commercial volume production.
Casting can also be used to make jewellery parts for repairs.

What is the job like?
‘Lost wax’ is the most commonly-used method, particularly for bulk production. There are several stages:

making a rubber mould from a master pattern
injecting wax into the mould which, when cooled, makes a perfect copy of the original pattern
repeating the wax injection to create multiple waxes
joining several waxes round a central core to form a ‘tree’
embedding the waxes into the ‘investment slurry’ in a flask
firing the flask in a kiln so the rubber burns away, forming a cavity
pouring molten metal into the cavity left by the wax.
After this the jewellery pieces are cut from the tree and finished by cleaning and polishing.

Casts can be made from CAD (computer-aided designs) or hand-drawn designs. Where CAD is used, 'rapid prototyping' technology can be used to make sample pieces.

Models for casting can also be made in resin, metal or clay. 3D scanning allows the use of almost any physical object as a model for casting.

Casting technicians usually work for a jewellery manufacturing company. In a company, they may spend all their time on casting work.

In a smaller jewellery company, someone who works as a casting technician may do other jewellery work. They might make or repair pieces of jewellery, using bench jewellery techniques and skills.

How do I become a casting technician?
An employer may expect you to have other jewellery skills, such as stone setting.

If you are involved in all stages of the casting process, from model making to finishing, you need to:

be creative and good with your hands to produce hand-carved wax models
have good IT skills to use CAD/CAM
have some knowledge of metals
work very accurately, as you are dealing with precious metals
have high standards of workmanship.
What qualifications and training do I need?
There are apprenticeships in casting, leading to a Level 2 qualification. It is possible to go onto an advanced apprenticeship, at Level 3 or 4.

You will need good GCSEs, including maths and science subjects, for these apprenticeships.

There is also a Level 3 Diploma in casting technology.

Bradford College offers courses in casting technology,

Comment by Rebecca Skeels on March 1, 2015 at 12:50pm

Price Review 2015

Our customers recently provided valuable feedback on our hallmarking pricing structure. Following the response, we are pleased to introduce the simplest pricing method in UK Hallmarking to date!

Included in each unit price are:

• Application of a standard hallmark on any precious metal and by any method of marking (punch or laser)

• Application of a sponsor’s mark

• The cost of handling each article if wrapped in an individual bag (previously given an individual handing charge)

The new approach offers some real benefits, including:

• Simplified pricing will ensure charges are easier to calculate

• Laser marks, which had a significantly higher price previously, are now included in the unit price.

• Unlike our competitors, we will continue to apply the traditional fineness symbol and date letter at no extra cost

Our new price list will begin on 1 April 2015 and can be viewed here. http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/media/4416073/2015standardpricelist.pdf

If you have any questions, please email Steve Collins: steve.collins@assayofficelondon.co.uk

Comment by Rebecca Skeels on March 1, 2015 at 12:48pm

and ACJ will be there too!

Celebrity Guest Speakers Announced for "Make your Mark" Student Event

Story image

As many of you will be aware, we are holding our next FREE student event in spring 2015 at Goldsmiths' Hall, London.

Following our first event last year, we took on board your feedback and made some amendments:

"Make your Mark" will be held over two days on Friday 17 to Saturday 18 April for students who are unable to attend on a weekday.

There will be more access to the popular talks from celebrity guest speakers, ensuring a greater number of students will be able to take advantage of their knowledge and experience.

We will once again offer a free registration package to students who have not yet registered with us.

We have a wide variety of exhibitors confirmed to help students in their future careers, including: diamond cutters, polishers, enamellers, hand engravers, tool suppliers, recruitment agencies and much more!

We can now also confirm that Theo Fennell will be returning for a second year with new guest speaker Michael Wainwright, Managing Director of Boodles.

If you are a tutor and have not yet confirmed your interest, please get in touch asap. Email:events@assayofficelondon.co.uk. If you are a student, please speak to your tutor to book your place.

 

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