The Jewellers Academy Featured In Retail Jeweller Magazine May 2024
The Jewellers Academy recently featured in a Retail Jeweller Magazine article about skills and training. Founder Derek Boyd was interviewed jewellery and watch journalist Rachael Taylor and you can read the interview below and see the full feature in this months Retail Jeweller Magazine.
“In Yorkshire, Derek Boyd, founder of the Jewellers Academy, is setting serious standards. The academy is a training centre for jewellers and watchmakers, with a focus on improving standards of those already in the trade. Last year, it won Service Provider of the Year at the UK Jewellery Awards. Boyd himself was trained at the Irish Swiss Institute of Horology in Blanchardstown, Dublin, before studying goldsmithing in Manchester. The Irish watchmaking school no longer exists, but it’s legacy of exacting standards and high expectations has stayed with Boyd throughout his career, and he brings its ethos of discipline and attention to detail to his own training offer.
There is a skills gap that needs to be addressed, he says, and not just a talent shortage, but a need for upskilling among professionals already working in the trade. He believes that some jewellers passing through formal education are learning about design but not craft, and therefore the jewellery they are designing has fundamental flaws. Or they simply cannot work to the sort of high standard that Boyd was taught during his training. “A massive change is needed, and needed now – not in 10 years’ time,” says Boyd. “How is it correct that a graduate with [a degree] in silversmithing interviews for a job as a jobbing jeweller, [but] when asked to complete a ring sizing as a bench test, admits they can’t do it? I am hearing this from many businesses contacting us. That young graduate is probably in £40,000 to £50,000 of debt with tuition fees and can’t size a ring.”
Boyd’s expertise is in repairs, and as part of his coursework, he will help his students to craft a piece of jewellery… and then destroy it. The purpose of the exercise is to force the students to repair their designs. This, he feels, gives them a better understanding of the functionality of jewellery designs, and also hones their hand skills. This daunting exercise is part of the Jewellers Academy 40 week jewellery repair and restoration course. “This is the best course,” says Boyd. “Do this and I’ll make a jeweller out of you.”
The academy also runs short courses, lasting two to four days, on watch repair, jewellery repair, soldering, setting and retipping, electroplating, and – of course – the all-important skill of ring re-sizing. Boyd says that short courses are proving most popular with the industry, and so he is planning to develop more. Coming later this year will be a course on hallmarking and testing precious metals as well as one on smelting and milling.
The founder commented we were so thrilled Mrs Taylor wanted an interview about our revolutionary style of training in repairs and restoration that has got the trade talking ….. we train in a Swiss watch industry style, i.e. the trainees are expected to locate the fault and repair so when Rachael mentioned “destroy the item“,what she means is we damage a section to simulate wear or damage of the ring, pendant bail, foldover etc all of which the trainee has been trained to manufacture then they are expected to repair to showroom standard under the clock !! without completely remaking the item ….. it truly is excellent experience for the trainee.
