In the videos, BA XS jewellery graduates talk about their final project and their experiences during their studies.
Students develop expertise in working with a range of materials, including porcelain, high end plastics and various metals, exploring their aesthetic, haptic and expressive qualities. In their studios and specialised workshops, working independently and in teams, they accumulate valuable practical experience and develop their own design positions. Through constant application of both analogue and digital work processes, they learn to apply traditional manufacturing tools while at the same time familiarising themselves with digital craft techniques, and other contemporary production methods. The hands-on approach is complemented by methodical and theoretical inputs that include interdisciplinary seminars and instruction in technical English. Students discuss international positions in contemporary jewellery at the interface between ornament and wearable technology, as well as social manifestations of material culture in the context of design and art.
Always keeping potential niches and markets in mind students develop precious objects for everyday use, realising sophisticated ideas in expertly crafted materials: wearable statements and functional accessories for head and hand. The students operate in a range of different contexts and focus on varying priorities including functionality, innovation, sustainability and provocation. In doing so, they broaden their knowledge base and horizons, mobilise interdisciplinary resources, build networks for the future, and team up with other disciplines to test their ideas. Two interdisciplinary IDA modules of the Lucerne School of Art and Design round off the curriculum. For the bachelor’s thesis in the final semester, students focus on a personal topic they have chosen themselves, and use the skills they have acquired during their studies to produce a final body of work to exhibit at the annual degree show.
Fields of activity after Graduation
After successfully completing a Bachelor of Arts in Product & Industrial Design with a specialisation in XS Jewellery, graduates have a wide range of professional opportunities at their disposal. With the acquired design skills and technical knowledge the students are able to design and position their first products. The combination of analogue and digital skills provides the basis for becoming professionally independent.
As designers working independently or in teams for local companies or international brands, graduates develop collections and concepts, unique objects or small-scale series. They are familiar with the needs of both the traditional and the contemporary luxury industry and work in such sectors as jewellery, objects and accessories, wearable technology and lifestyle products. They may contribute to the development of emerging markets in wearable computing or in the miniaturisation of medical technology.
Besides working in traditional sectors of the jewellery industry and the growing international market in contemporary jewellery, graduates may also create requisites for the film industry, work in model-making, or – after gaining additional qualifications while working independently – be employed as conservators for collections, or curators and facilitators for galleries and museums at home and abroad.
