School of Gemmology and Allied Studies
The School of Gemmology and Allied Studies was established as a small private studio-based training school for those interested in pursuing careers as jewellery designers and/or makers. Based in Central London, it was started in 1991 by its three founding directors. Don Baxendale, Graduate of Royal College of Art, an award-winning jeweller and craftsman with many years' practical and teaching experience. Scilla Speet, also a RCA graduate, formerly Head of Jewellery department at Harrow School of Art and later Head of the BA (Hons) Jewellery course at Central St Martin's School of Art. Brian Boulton, former Head of Interfaculty Studies at Harrow College of Higher Education, later Head of the School of Continuing Education at the Polytechnic of Central London (now the University of Westminster).
Initially the School concentrated on professional Gemmology education with courses leading to the GemA Diploma. It operated from its teaching base at Regent's College, Regent's Park. In time, as opportunities in gemmology education became more GeneRally available, the School switched its emphasis to Jewellery, developing its own Diploma course and extending its activities to meet a wider range of student needs. It then centered its activities at its studio workshop in Swiss Cottage, with a subsidiary centre in nearby Bloomsbury.
The particular feature which has stayed with the School since its start has been its small size - small enough, always, to ensure close individual attention to its students and to helping meet their individual goals.
- Developing skills sufficient to support a career as a jewellery designer/maker
- Creating a portfolio of work of a standard enabling the student to proceed to a degree or other Higher Education course in Jewellery
- Developing skills for reasons of personal pleasure and the satisfaction of being able to design and produce jewellery for one's own use.
The School is decidedly international and cosmopolitan in flavour: since 1991 it has welcomed students from over 40 countries in all parts of the world. Some of its former students have obtained considerable academic and professional success; one runs his own gemmology school in Taiwan, another holds a senior position in the De Beers design department in Japan. Others have secured positions with leading UK jewellery houses; yet others have established themselves as independent jewellery makers.
In September 2007, following the retirements of two of the founding directors the School decided that its October 2007 intake should be its last and that it would cease to operate after June 2008