Making Headway Progressing on your Jewellery Journey

The Jewellery Collective is on a mission to break down barriers to those finding their way in jewellery industry; a saturated market that was historically tricky to crack without existing social capital. Nurturing environments where advice and knowledge is gladly shared without expecting anything in return - creating supportive spaces for jewellery professionals to develop their confidence, skillsets and networks - we’re founded on a vision of greater connection, opportunity and inclusivity.

Teaming up with Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery, this panel talk and networking event is an opportunity for you to gain honest, contemporary insights on ‘making headway’ in the industry, wherever you’re headed. The panel represents various facets of the industry - from education to trade, manufacturing, designing and education - with the speakers drawing on their own experiences to offer refreshing takes on the routes and possibilities available. 

Whether you’re an experienced industry member seeking fresh perspectives or an aspiring jeweller looking ahead to the future, join us for a laid-back evening of information-sharing, an open forum for asking questions and the chance to form new connections.

To BCU students and staff, and Jewellery Collective members: Please contact us on hello@thejewellerycollective.com for access to your ticket discount. Thank you!

Please contact us with a minimum of 72 hours' notice if you wish to cancel your ticket; we are unable to issue refunds beyond this point. Thank you.

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The Panel

Rebecca Skeels (the moderator)
Rebecca Skeels is the Course Director and Senior Lecturer of BA (Hons) Jewellery & Objects at Birmingham City University, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and External Examiner on the BA (Hons) Designer Maker course at Brighton University. She started her jewellery business Skeels in 1994 after graduating from the University of Wales - before graduating from Central Saint Martin’s (MA Project by Design) and achieving a PGC in Higher Education from the University for the Creative Arts. 

As a designer-maker, Rebecca's work has exhibited across Europe, in the US and in China. Her simultaneous position as a design-maker, leader of craft courses and an active member of the UK’s craft industry provides her with a unique perspective on education and requirements for the future of ‘the crafts’. Materials are her obsession; bridging her work as a designer-maker and role as an educator. The use of materials within her work can be fun, contradictive, functional and thought-provoking.

Marie Brennan, The Assay Office
Marie Brennan is a dedicated Commercial Manager and Business Development Officer with over 20 years of experience at the Birmingham Assay Office. She specialises in offering unique business support to the jewellers who use The Assay Office, assisting their growth. Her career is driven by a passion for understanding customer needs and delivering tailored solutions, staying ahead of jewellery industry trends. She'll be talking to us about the role the Assay Office has to play in supporting and uplifting the jewellery industry and the various opportunities it offers for learning, careers, community and professional development.

Michael Man Lin, BCU alumni & Early Career Representative at the Association of Contemporary Jewellery
Michael Lin is an award-winning jewellery designer and artist maker. He completed his degree and Gem-A gemmology diploma at the Birmingham School of Jewellery in 2023 and is now an Artist in Residence there. He also serves as the Early Career Representative at the Association of Contemporary Jewellery. Michael’s work bridges narrative art jewellery and commercial jewellery, using both conventional and unconventional materials. He combines traditional hand-making techniques with digital processes to explore the combination and contrast of geometric and organic forms. Inspired by Japanese aesthetics and the ‘Mitsuro Hikime’ wax technique, his latest collection uses sustainable materials and traditional techniques to propose a new material concept for contemporary jewellery.

Margo Misiak-Orlovic, BCU alumni & local jewellery artist
Margo Misiak-Orlovic is a London-based interdisciplinary artist and material[ity] researcher whose jewellery-and-metal-native practice is interested in radical dehierarchising of material relationships and engaging in experimental, collaborative, boundary-dissolving material practices. Rejecting human-imposed [power] narratives, through their material engagement Margo explores the possibilities for more just, free and participatory ways of being in the world.A recent [2024] RCA Jewellery and Metal graduate, Margo has been awarded Graham Hughes Award for Outstanding Student in Jewellery and Metal, Behrens Foundation Bursary and RCA Vice Chancellor’s Achievement Scholarship.