5. The development of vocational practice in the jewelry industry
5.1. Incubation as a strategy to formulate and instantiate new jewelry designs
One of the work placements negotiated by the JIIC was between M&M and a recently
qualified jewelry graduate, Shona Marsh. M&M were keen to participate because the
Director, Matthew Twigge, wanted to reposition the company at the ‘high-end’ of the UK
and global jewelry marketplace. Shona was selected by the JIIC because she had a first
degree in Tapestry from Edinburgh College of Art, a High National Diploma (HND) in
Jewelry and Silversmithing from Birmingham School of Jewelry (University of Central
England) and had also undertaken a work placement whilst at college. Consequently, the
JIIC felt that Shona had the right balance between theoretical knowledge, practical skill and
some experience of the challenge of working in a commercial environment to benefit from
the placement.
The aim of the work placement was two-fold: to design a new range of female and male
wedding rings (hereafter project object) to reposition M&M at the high-end of UK and
global jewelry marketplace, and to assist Shona to develop her vocational practice so as to
make the transition from unemployed to employed status (i.e. full-time employment or part-
time/contract-based employment) in the jewelry industry. The work placement was,
according to Kate Thorley (Interview, 10-5-07), ‘unique’ because, there were very few
companies that were prepared to offer an inexperienced designer the opportunity to
‘experiment with new designs based on diamond setting for wedding rings’. M&M
were prepared to do so because the company was committed to increasing its profitability
by offering an enhanced product range to appeal to the ‘middle to the upper end of the
market’ (Matthew Twigge, 4th Mentoring Session, 7-2-06).
This work placement was also, according to Kate (Interview, 10-5-07), very ‘focused’.
The JIIC, Matthew Twigge and Shona were all collectively involved from the outset in
agreeing a brief for the project-object, a written plan that outlined the timeframe, the
expected number of designs and the forms of support, that is, regular meetings between
Shona and Matthew to discuss ideas for designs and mentor meetings between Shona and
Kate to discuss progress. Based on their previous experiences, the JIIC was acutely aware
that this degree of clarity and transparency about the project’s outcomes created a context
where all parties were all collectively involved in the realization of the project-object and,
as a result, more prepared to listen and learn from one another.
During the formulation phase, Kate suggested to Shona that she should change her working
methods. Up to now, Shona had ‘researched’ new ideas by collecting images, almost
randomly, in scrapbooks. This method of working was, however, rather insular because it
did not allow her to identify general design trends in fields other than jewelry or to consider
their implications for new jewelry designs. This is increasingly important aspect of modern