✦ For the Serious Craftsperson
Push the boundaries of your craft. Master metalsmithing, stone-setting, reticulation, and granulation — guided by working jewelers with decades of studio experience.
Why Go Advanced
Our advanced programme is built for makers who've moved past the basics and are ready to work like professional jewelers. Every session uses authentic techniques — no shortcuts, no craft-store methods.
You'll work alongside instructors who exhibit their work, sell at galleries, and have trained under master goldsmiths in Europe and Japan. The curriculum is demanding, deeply rewarding, and designed to transform your abilities.
Before You Begin
Our advanced classes assume a solid foundation. Here's what you should be comfortable with before enrolling.
Comfortable shaping, bending, and joining wire. Can create simple wrapped loops and coils without guidance.
✦ RequiredExperienced with pliers, flush cutters, ring mandrels, and bench pegs. No hesitation picking up unfamiliar tools.
✦ RequiredUnderstands gauge differences, metal hardness, and alloy properties. Can choose correct materials for a project.
✦ RequiredAt least one intermediate-level workshop, either with us or elsewhere — or equivalent self-taught experience.
◇ RecommendedNot sure if you're ready? Contact us — we'll assess your skills and suggest the right starting point.
The Curriculum
Each class is a deep-dive into one technique. Every session is intimate, demanding, and culminates in a portfolio-quality piece.
Most Enrolled
Saw, file, solder, and finish sterling silver sheet metal into elegant, complex forms. You'll construct a complete fabricated pendant using professional bench tools.
Create a custom fine silver bezel, form it around a cabochon, and set the stone with a burnisher. Your gemstone, fully secured, beautifully framed.
New
Use a torch to create organic, flowing surface textures on silver sheet. Reticulation produces unique rippled effects impossible to replicate by hand-tooling alone.
Work with a planishing hammer and stake to shape thick silver wire and sheet into sculptural, three-dimensional forms. This is raw, physical, transformative work.
Intensive
Master the most demanding stone-setting styles. Using engravers, burnishers, and a microscope, you'll seat multiple faceted stones in a pavé cluster or classic prong mount.
The ancient Etruscan art of fusing tiny spheres of gold or silver to a metal surface — without solder. An extraordinary technique requiring extreme precision and heat control.
Push and pull metal from both sides using steel punches and pitch bowls to create dramatic three-dimensional relief designs in copper and silver sheet.
Join metals, resins, and mixed materials without heat — using tube rivets, eyelets, and pressure connections. Ideal for incorporating non-metal elements into fine jewelry.
Who Teaches Here
Every advanced class is led by a working jeweler — not just a teacher. These are people whose work appears in galleries.
Founder & Master Goldsmith
Trained under master goldsmiths in Florence and Tokyo, Elena has been exhibiting her sculptural jewelry work internationally for 18 years. She founded Aurum Studio in 2012 with a vision to bring professional-grade goldsmithing to a wider audience. Her patience, clarity, and exacting standards make her advanced classes transformative experiences.
Senior Instructor — Surface & Forging
Marcus trained as a traditional blacksmith before shifting his focus to precious metals. His background in industrial forging gives his metalsmithing an unusual physicality and raw power. He specialises in reticulation, granulation, and chasing & repousse — techniques he teaches with a calm, methodical precision that puts even nervous students at ease.
Book Your Spot
From Our Students
Work created by advanced students in our studio. Every piece was made during a single class session.
Advanced Student Voices
"The granulation class was unlike anything I've done in 15 years of hobby jewelry making. The technique is ancient and demanding — and Elena made me feel capable every step of the way. The piece I made is genuinely museum-quality."
"I've watched dozens of videos on reticulation, but nothing prepared me for actually doing it with a torch. Marcus is extraordinary — calm, precise, and brilliantly knowledgeable. I came home with a brooch that stopped a room."
Featured"The pavé setting class was 8 hours of pure, focused joy. Placing 8 tiny diamonds under a microscope, using tools I'd never held — and finishing with a perfect cluster ring. Worth every single minute and every single penny."
Got Questions?
You should be comfortable at an intermediate level — meaning you've completed at least one structured jewelry workshop (with us or elsewhere), or have spent significant time teaching yourself the basics. You should be able to use bench tools without hesitation and understand the properties of common metals and wire gauges.
No. Advanced classes assume prerequisite knowledge and move at a pace that would be overwhelming for beginners. If you're new to jewelry making, please start with our Beginner Classes — they're designed to build exactly the foundation you'll need before stepping into advanced sessions.
All professional tools are provided — including torches, rolling mills, gravers, pitch bowls, and specialist finishing equipment. Metal and stones are included in the class price unless otherwise stated. Some classes allow you to bring your own stones; contact us to discuss specific needs.
Maximum 6 students. This is non-negotiable — advanced techniques require close, personalised supervision that isn't possible in larger groups. When classes sell out, we add waitlists and open new dates rather than increasing student numbers.
Absolutely, and we encourage it. Many of our most accomplished students have taken 4–6 different advanced sessions over a year, building a truly professional toolkit. We can help you plan a curriculum based on your interests and goals.
Full refund if cancelled 10+ days before class. 50% studio credit for 5–10 days notice. No refund within 5 days, but we may be able to transfer your booking to a future date in genuine emergencies. Advanced classes are more expensive to run, so we appreciate maximum notice.