A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Our QMC Summer Work Experience
We were delighted to welcome three talented QMC Art students into our team for a three-day immersive work experience. With the chance to explore jewellery design, digital marketing, and meaningful collaboration with local charity The Pink Place, each of them brought their own creativity and artistic energy to the studio.
Here’s what Hannah, Lydia, and Anna had to say about their experience, in their own words.
Hannah
"My work experience at Petra Jewellery encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone. Throughout this experience I tried out different ways of using my art skills in a more professional way. For example, on the first day I used technology I wasn't very confident in to upload products into Shopify. I was given a brief that I had to think about at all times when designing my piece of jewellery, and had to make sure it aligned with what I was asked for.
I worked with copper using lots of different mark-making tools to make my pendant match my design. My confidence in showing myself, and my work, online has improved too, because I’ve been motivated by the team to get myself and my art out there.
I was given pieces of jewellery to identify, describe and price for a charity organisation called The Pink Place. This was wonderful as not only was I gaining organisational skills and learning how to identify jewellery, but I was doing it for a good cause, helping a charity that supports women affected by cancer.
I was also given the opportunity to ask the professionals questions about their work and how they create jewellery, for example, how they either carve wax into a design or use a 3D printer to make ring moulds. My knowledge of how creative skills are used professionally has vastly improved from before I started."
Lydia
"On the first day, we started off by getting introduced to the Petra Jewellery brand and the company, where we were told about The Pink Place project that would be one of the major points of the experience.
The first activity we did was learning all about jewellery photography and editing. We then used this knowledge to take photos of jewellery donated to the Pink Place collection, and learnt how to research gemstones and write product descriptions before adding them to the Petra website.
Later we moved to the workshop to begin designing our own jewellery pieces based on a set brief. At the end of the day we had a meeting with Mitch and Christine, the organiser for The Pink Place charity.
On the second day, we made a social media advert for the Pink Place and then took turns uploading items ourselves, photographing, editing and writing the descriptions. Then it was back to the workshop to refine our designs.
The third and final day was spent almost entirely in the workshop. We finalised our designs, then carved, shaped, and imprinted them onto copper. Seeing the full process from idea to physical piece was incredible. It really showed us what it’s like to work in the creative industry. The skills we learnt, even around running a store and working online, will be useful whatever we choose to do next."
Anna
"I had 3 days of work experience here at Petra Jewellery where I designed, produced and manufactured a pendant. Rosie was amazing and helped with everything each day, and oversaw everything we did.
I also worked with a local charity called The Pink Place. I learnt how to photograph jewellery and how to edit and upload to a website, which is exactly what I did with the donated items from The Pink Place. Petra is making a collection from these pieces to raise money and awareness, the charity supports over 250 women with cancer here in Basingstoke.
I designed a piece of jewellery within a brief, and after hours of developing different ideas, I brought it to life using copper. I sawed it into shape, filed the edges, and Behzad, the goldsmith polished it and drilled the hole for the chain to turn it into a wearable pendant. Abi was amazing in the workshop and supported us the whole time.
Afterwards, I took professional-style photos of my finished pendant. I also designed thank you cards (as I study graphics at QMC), which Mitch asked me to help with, they’ll be sent out with purchases from the website!
On my last day, we met again with Christine from The Pink Place to show her our progress and the finished pendant. Over the three days, I documented everything with photos and videos to share as reels and on my digital portfolio, so I can show what I achieved."
Hannah, Lydia and Anna’s finished copper pendants
Thank you to Hannah, Lydia and Anna. It was a pleasure having you in the studio, and we were so impressed by your ideas, and the creativity you brought to every part of the process.
You’ve helped us not only share the sparkle and we’re excited to see where your creativity takes you next!
Are you a student looking for a creative work experience placement?
We offer bespoke placements in design, photography, marketing and customer experience. Whether you're passionate about art, interested in jewellery or just want to learn something new, get in touch with the Petra team to find out more.