New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Regaining a sense of belonging

Email user
zavod.siaj@gmail.com

Basic information
Initiative title
Jewelry Skills

Full initiative Title
Creativity and skills sharing in contemporary jewelry making. Inspiring discovery through creativity

Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
We've seen how the seemingly simple act of creating can be a force for growth, change, and discovery in people’s lives. We want to inspire and multiply the kind of creative exploration that furthers expression, learning and application. Jewelry Skills is an educational platform for creative and curious people, on topics including jewelry making, designing, freelancing, and more.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
National

Where was your intiative implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
Slovenia

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
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Does your initiative address mainly urban or rural issues?
It addresses urban-rural linkages

Does your initiative refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your initiative benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your initiative won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Does your initiative has a minimum level of maturity? The minimum level of maturity is exemplified by stakeholder/ initiative promoter commitment to implement the initiative in practice and a clear methodology /approach.
Yes

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As a representative of an organisation
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project)
- Name of the organisation(s): Zavod SIAJ (Slovenian Association of Jewellers)
  Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation
  First name of representative: Olga
  Last name of representative: Košica
  Gender: Female
  Nationality: Slovenia
  Function: Director
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Medvedova cesta18
  Town: Ljubljana
  Postal code: 1000
  Country: Slovenia
  Direct Tel: +386 40 529 295
  E-mail: zavod.siaj@gmail.com
  Website: https://slovenianjewelryweek.com/About
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: http://www.instagram.com/slovenianjewelryweek/
- URL: http://www.facebook.com/slovenianjewelryweek
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #slovenianjewleryweek
In case my initiative is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my initiative in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Social Media

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
»Jewellery skills« is/will be an online platform supporting and intertwining two great causes:
Firstly, it will allow us to provide and deliver training courses and tools to the jewellery designers community (national and international), and secondly, it will allow the »Jewellery skills« community members to cooperate and will have an up-to-date database of all the members with their portfolios available to the general public.
The program encourages and supports all initiatives aimed at the exchange of information, experimentation, training, and establishing connections among members, both online through the community and in practice through work groups that freely get together to carry out projects, produce documents and develop specific themes. The program adheres to an ethics code that respects individuals and the environment, oriented towards circular economy and sustainability. Following a conceptual methodology focused on the improvement of quality through the collection of information and the analysis of results.
In order to achieve its aims, we have set out plans, to promote training courses and other pedagogical activities; to organise conferences, seminars, masterclasses, artistic residencies and exhibitions; to undertake actions that appeal to new audiences; to set up partnerships and projects for artistic and cultural interchanges; to publish articles, books, catalogues and videos; to experiment with new materials and technologies, to preserve, and study the historical heritage.

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with 5 key words.
learning

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
conecting

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
jewelry

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
inclusion

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
dewelping

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of sustainability and how these have been/will be met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Pain point no.1: No formal education or specialized courses for future jewellery designers/jewellers/gold and silversmiths (in Slovenia)
Jewellery design, seen as an art, craft or a particular skill, is challenging to learn and master in Slovenia. There are no schools or formal training available. On your journey to becoming a future jewellery designer/jeweller/gold or silversmith, you must be highly resourceful, financially savvy and able to afford training in other countries or have good connections with established jewellery designers. If you have none of the above, you're left on your own and with a high chance of never being able to develop your talent and become a professional.

Pain point no.2: No education or lessons on history and techniques provided by an established and professional source
Jewellery is your passion, but you'd like to keep it as a hobby, or you're interested in the art itself, its history, heritage, and techniques, but don't see it as your profession. What you're lacking, in this case, is some quality education and lessons provided by an established and professional source. That is also something you can not find (yet) in Slovenia.

Pain point no.3: Hard to find and navigate the jewellery creator community for the general public & hard to get found by potential clients for creators
What we identified as pain for the general public is how to find a suitable creator whose design language and style would suit your taste and needs. On the other hand, it is challenging for small creators to get discovered by a potential client. It takes a lot of money and effort, and since a lot of creators are one-man-band, it takes a toll on them, professionally and personally.

The purpose of this initiative is to provide people with a deep understanding of how to build a culture of sustainability and develop a sustainable approach to working and designing through the study of what circular economy and sustainability mean.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
We've seen how the seemingly simple act of creating can be a force for growth, change, and discovery in people’s lives. We want to inspire and multiply the kind of creative exploration that furthers expression, learning and application. Jewelry Skills is an educational platform for creative and curious people, on topics including jewelry making, designing, freelancing, and more.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
With the membership programme and the possibility of purchasing a bundle or only one program/training, we are trying to create a sustainable business model for the platform and everyone working on it while creating affordable, easily understandable and high-end content and programs for the general and professional public of all ages and backgrounds.
We will also organize and initiate support to include marginal groups (people from the Roma community, migrants, etc.) Which can be made operational with the support of similar European and national calls for proposals.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the initiative and civil society have been/will be involved in the initiative and what has been/will be the impact of this involvement on the initiative
There are online classes that aren't verified by professionals, many DIY courses taught by people with no solid background or education in the field of jewellery, and many schools abroad that are very expensive or they claim to be the best but aren't certified by the area of expertise etc. It is hard to navigate the worldwide net of possibilities and to choose who and what to believe and where to invest the time and money. What we are trying to achieve has been done to some extent in other fields but not in jewellery design, which brings us to the primary goal of the "Jewellery skills" programme.
Our main goal is for "Jewellery skills" to become the leading informal form of education in the jewellery field, first at the national and later at the international level. We dream that "Jewellery skills" will become a formally recognized form of education in the future.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
As the project promoter SIAJ - Slovenian Association of Jewellers, was created to educate, develop and promote contemporary jewellery art. To achieve its aims, SIAJ has set out plans:
- to promote training courses and other pedagogical activities;
- to organise conferences, seminars, masterclasses, artistic residencies and exhibitions;
- to undertake actions that appeal to new audiences;
- to set up partnerships and projects for artistic and cultural interchanges;
- to publish articles, books, catalogues and videos;
- to experiment with new materials and technologies.
- to preserve and study the historical heritage
and with all that, adheres to an ethics code that respects individuals and the environment, following a conceptual methodology focused on improving quality through collecting information and analysing results.

European: Anastasia Young is a jewellery artist, author and lecturer, whose work has been exhibited internationally. It is a pleasure to have her on board as a consultant in our team. Her publications: Gemstone Settings, Anastasia Young, Bloomsbury, 2012. The Workbench Guide to Jewelry Techniques, Anastasia Young, Thames and Hudson, 2010. The Jewellery Materials Sourcebook, Anastasia Young, A&C Black, 2008 are a bases for lerning about jewelr making aroun the world.

National: Assertive jewelry designers are already in the process of organizing workshops in their local area and preparing to become part of our mentoring team.
We have started collaborating with educational institutions, as well as museums that are interested in learning more about our platform and would like to participate in it. We are in the process of partnering with The Rog Center, a new international creative and social hub in the heart of Ljubljana, that could provide us with the phisycal space.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your initiative. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
The "Jewellery skills" platform will establish an online environment for learning and connection, where the teachings and trainings will be built on local culture, traditions, craft, knowledge and creativity. By adding partners, lecturers and creators from abroad, we will shape a future-oriented community with a great sense of heritage and tradition. We have already built a network of people with different backgrounds and skill sets to infuse the platform with creative, tech-savvy multi-disciplinary curricula.

With a highly qualified team of experts from various fields (jewellery design, product & graphic design, UI & UX design, copywriting, etc.), we are creating a platform that can be managed, navigated and upgraded, both technologically and professionally. We strive to create an intuitive, easily memorable and visually pleasing experience of education that people will enjoy.

As we believe that jewellery and the jewellery design/making process itself is highly tactile, the core team, the founders, are currently working on acquiring a physical space for 'Jewellery Skills'. It will allow us to interact with members directly and give us space for private and public events, lectures and training.

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
.We are building the idea of a three-dimensional base – past, present & future:
1. Past – JEWELRY TRADITION: cultural heritage and craftsmanship;
2. Present – SUSTAINABILITY IN JEWELRY: recycled materials, sustainable sources, etc.;
3. Future – JEWELRY AND SCIENCE - Robotics, artificial intelligence, digitization, etc...
Our main goal is for "Jewellery skills" to become the leading informal form of education in the jewellery field, first at the national and later at the international level. We dream that "Jewellery skills" will become a formally recognized form of education in the future.

Please describe which elements of your initiative could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
All the elements of our initiative could be replicated.
In the future, we wish to make it more widely available across national borders so that it may be accessed by everyone. Particularly in the former Yugoslav countries where we share similar educational problems and fewer linguistic and cultural barriers. To achieve this goal, we have already started to connect and cooperate with jewellery designers from these countries in a parallel project - where we invite them to exhibit and present their jewellery in Slovenia jewelry week.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
We are building the idea of a three-dimensional base – past, present & future:
1. Past – JEWELRY TRADITION: cultural heritage and craftsmanship;
2. Present – SUSTAINABILITY IN JEWELRY: recycled materials, sustainable sources, etc.;
3. Future – JEWELRY AND SCIENCE - Robotics, artificial intelligence, digitization, etc...
With the membership programme and the possibility of purchasing a bundle or only one program/training, we are trying to create a sustainable business model for the platform and everyone working on it while creating affordable, easily understandable and high-end content and programs for the general and professional public of all ages and backgrounds.
With a highly qualified team of experts from various fields (jewellery design, product & graphic design, UI & UX design, copywriting, etc.), we are creating a platform that can be managed, navigated and upgraded, both technologically and professionally. We strive to create an intuitive, easily memorable and visually pleasing experience of education that people will enjoy.
As we believe that jewellery and the jewellery design/making process itself is highly tactile, the core team, the founders, are currently working on acquiring a physical space for 'Jewellery Skills'. It will allow us to interact with members directly and give us space for private and public events, lectures and training.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
There are online classes that aren't verified by professionals, many DIY courses taught by people with no solid background or education in the field of jewellery, and many schools that are very expensive and claim to be the best but aren't certified by the area of expertise etc. It is hard to navigate the worldwide net of possibilities and to choose who and what to believe and where to invest the time and money. What we are trying to achieve has been done to some extent in other fields but not in jewellery design, which brings us to the primary goal of the "Jewellery skills" programme.
Our main goal is for "Jewellery skills" to become the leading informal form of education in the jewellery field, first at the national and later at the international level. We dream that "Jewellery skills" will become a formally recognized form of education in the future.

Please detail the scope of progress in the implementation of the initiative. This can include already demonstrated results/outputs related to the chosen Prizes category, and the already achieved benefits from the initiative for direct and indirect beneficiaries. This can also include a development plan of the initiative, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application, and including envisaged results and benefits from the initiative
In 2022, the first Slovenian Jewelry Week took place. Our goal was to successfully bring together and present selected domestic designers of contemporary jewellery to the general public as well as participating in warious paralel projects (lectures workshops demonstrations,..)
Visitors expressed their enthusiasm for learning about contemporary jewellery design, what materials and techniques are used, how it is made, what new technologies are available, what new design approaches are available, what conceptual jewellery is, what sustainable jewellery is, and so on and so forth.
In May 2023 we will organise the second edition. Over time, this will become a traditional international event taking place in a different major Slovenian city every year. (Read more in the pdf annex and the web link.)
But we decided that we needed a project that would be present all year around. This project/platform "JEWELRY SKILLS" will also become a library of all accumulated knowledge and information regarding jewelry design/making.
Plans for the implementation of the "Jewellery skills" project in the coming year:
1st stage: a defined business model with detailed pricing policies and an integrated visual image of the project
2nd stage: parallel work of three teams:
 1st team: platform development and graphic design, user interface, flow and user experience design
 2nd team: the creation of the first programs - content and visual design and implementation of the first programs that will be available on the platform
 3rd team: adaptation of business strategy, marketing strategy and advertising

Please provide documents that demonstrate the maturity level of the initiative and commitment to implement the initiative in practice (e.g.: evaluation report, final or mid-term initiative report, certification, publications, building permit, grant agreement, letter of support, partnership agreement, etc.)
Both
PDF
Web link
- http://slovenianjewelryweek.com/About
If relevant, please describe how your initiative contributes to developing new competences, especially in the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
The "Jewellery skills" platform will establish an online environment for learning and connection, where the teachings and trainings will be built on local culture, traditions, craft, knowledge and creativity. By adding partners, lecturers and creators from abroad, we will shape a future-oriented community with a great sense of heritage and tradition. We have already built a network of people with different backgrounds and skill sets to infuse the platform with creative, tech-savvy multi-disciplinary curricula.
With the membership programme and the possibility of purchasing a bundle or only one program/training, we are trying to create a sustainable business model for the platform and everyone working on it while creating affordable, easily understandable and high-end content and programs for the general and professional public of all ages and backgrounds.
Please attach at least 6 high resolution images or visual representations of your initiative to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below.
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By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed initiative has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the initiative and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their initiatives, initiative, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted initiative, initiative is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes