Jewelry & Metalwork

Guides and ideas on jewelry & metalwork

From the Handsome blog

• Silver jewellery workshop in Turin: how your first ring is made

  Measuring, cutting, shaping, soldering, filing, polishing: what really happens in a silversmithing course in Turin, how to spot a course where you do the work, and the questions to ask yourself before paying (silver included, engraving, wrong size).

• Jewellery workshop in Bologna: make your own silver ring in a city-centre atelier

  An afternoon at the goldsmith's bench ends with a silver ring on your finger. What your hands actually do in those hours, how much metal it takes, why the piece comes out imperfect, and who should book something else.

• Arezzo, city of gold: where to make your own ring in the goldsmith district

  Arezzo makes gold for half the world without a single shop window. A goldsmith's bench, though, can be booked: here is what a day at the bench looks like and what you leave with.

• Vicenza, City of Gold: Make a Ring Where Italian Jewelry Is Born

  In Italy's gold city, the bench open to the public runs on silver and brass. That is no compromise: it is how the trade is learned, and the reason says a lot about what a workshop really sells.

• Cameo and Coral Carving in Torre del Greco: Try It Just Outside Naples

  Everyone in Torre del Greco buys a cameo. Few know the shell can be carved in person, at the bench beside someone who does it for a living: here is how to find the right experience.

• Filigree or chasing? Silver techniques to try near Genoa

  Tweezers or hammer? Campo Ligure's filigree and chasing call on different hands and produce different objects. Knowing which is which keeps you from booking the wrong workshop.

• For Makers

  Arezzo goldsmiths: from subcontracting to selling your own experiences

  Excellent hands, invisible name: in the gold district the piece leaves under someone else's brand. A workshop is the first product signed by you, and it doesn't ask you to drop the contract work.

• For Makers

  Jewelry workshops: what to have beginners create in just a few hours

  Wearing a piece of jewelry made with your own hands is an incredibly powerful feeling. Here's how to design a jewelry workshop that delivers it in just a few hours.