Jewelry is one of the few crafts that still demands full control of both imagination and matter. To shape a piece of gold or silver is to enter a dialogue with time itself: every gesture leaves a trace, every imperfection becomes part of the story.
Inside the workshops where the language of metal is still taught by doing, and craftsmanship is passed from one generation to the next
The best schools are those that preserve this balance between tradition and innovation, where students spend more time on the bench than in front of a screen, and where technique is learned through patient repetition.
Here are seven institutions, from Rome to Toronto, that continue to teach jewelry as a living craft.
Accademia delle Arti Orafe
Founded in Rome by master goldsmiths, the Accademia delle Arti Orafe has built its reputation on a very simple, yet strong, idea: to train professionals who can work immediately in the workshop.
Students spend long hours at the bench, mastering soldering, setting stones, engraving, wax modeling and the many small adjustments that make a piece precise. Courses are intimate, the pace is hands-on, and theory never detaches from the reality of metal and flame.
The school’s philosophy is that creativity grows from skill, not the other way around: an approach that has made it a reference point for both Italian and international students who want to learn the discipline behind artistry and step confidently into professional workshops after graduation.
Staatliche Zeichenakademie Hanau
One of Europe’s oldest schools for jewelry and silversmithing, the Staatliche Zeichenakademie Hanau was founded in 1772 and has trained generations of artisans in Germany’s traditional jewelry heartland.
The academy combines historical awareness with modern techniques, offering courses in goldsmithing, engraving, stone setting and design. Workshops are equipped with both classical tools and digital systems, but the rhythm remains that of a craftsman’s bench: precise, deliberate, and grounded in material understanding.
Vakschool Schoonhoven
Known simply as “the school of gold and silver,” Vakschool Schoonhoven is the cornerstone of professional jewelry education in the Netherlands.
Its teaching is entirely practice-based, following a vocational structure where students learn by making, correcting, and repeating. The school has a close relationship with the town’s silversmithing heritage, and its workshops reflect that blend of tradition and modernity.
Apprentices train in fabrication, repair, and gem setting, gradually earning the trust to work on more intricate commissions. It is an environment where technical precision and patience are considered the foundation of artistry.
The Goldsmiths’ Centre
The Goldsmiths’ Centre in London is not a traditional school, but a hybrid between an academy, a workshop, and a professional hub. It was founded to bridge the gap between training and the jewelry trade, offering apprenticeships, advanced courses, and mentoring for young artisans.
Students and emerging professionals work side by side, sharing benches and exchanging techniques. The atmosphere is collaborative and practical. Casting, mounting, polishing, and design development all happen within the same building.
George Brown College – Jewellery Arts Program
The George Brown College has built one of North America’s most respected jewelry programs, thanks to a curriculum that is fully workshop-oriented. Over three years, students learn every essential technique: sawing, filing, soldering, casting, and stone setting, alongside courses in drawing and gem knowledge.
The school’s philosophy is rooted in the idea that mastery comes from repetition; each project builds on the last, pushing precision and finish. Graduates often enter the jewelry market directly, equipped with both practical ability and the discipline to adapt to professional standards.
Studio Jewelers Ltd.
In New York, Studio Jewelers Ltd. stands out for its focus on traditional craft. This independent school offers intensive programs that simulate the pace of an actual workshop.
Students practice fabrication, wax modeling, and setting under the guidance of experienced bench jewelers. The teaching method is straightforward: work, observation, correction, repetition.
Its proximity to Manhattan’s Diamond District gives learners a sense of the real dynamics of the jewelry trade, blending old-school craftsmanship with the immediacy of a bustling industry environment.
Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry
In Tokyo, the Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry offers a remarkably structured education that reflects the Japanese idea of craftsmanship: rigorous, quiet, and precise.
Students begin with the foundations of metalwork and gradually move toward complex fabrication, design, and gem-setting techniques. The school is known for the discipline of its teaching (each process is repeated until it becomes instinctive) and for an openness to modern materials and design thinking. This balance between order and creativity gives Hiko Mizuno a unique identity among Asian jewellery schools.
Where craftsmanship begins
Across different countries and teaching styles, these institutions share one essential truth: jewelry is learned through doing. They remind us that progress in this craft is not measured in grades or software skills, but in the refinement of gestures repeated a thousand times until they become natural.
Each of these schools preserves the same quiet discipline: the rhythm of a workshop, the patience of making, and the enduring beauty of work done by hand.
