Nove Gioie
Nove Gioie is the second episode of a collaborative project between D’orica and the art school G. De Fabris of Nove, which began in 2011. The project consists of a training program that involves directly teachers, students and company staff in the creation of jewelry prototypes. Young students have been working closely to D’orica’s team, both inside our production facility and in the school.
At D’orica, it is our belief that dialogue between school and business can be an engine for the whole territory. For this reason, we made our resources and expertise fully available, structuring an educational curriculum in stages for the students of Art school De Fabris of Nove.
The first episode was in 2011, when D’orica jewels were studied for more than a month by two high school classes. The work of the students gave rise to four new collections, which were included in the catalogue D’orica and presented during VicenzaOro Fall and the Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair in September 2012.
The second phase is the one that we present in this article and it took place in December 2014: two new classes have been involved in the creation of models for D’orica, which have been selected, developed and presented to VicenzaOro January 2015.
The design
Working with a D’orica jewel is open to surprises. After starting by pencil drawing, the students realised that their designs could represent the weave mesh possibilities only partially, and that complex geometries can be obtained only by working the product by hand. D’orica jewelry, formed by spherical modular elements, have been studied for more than a month in two high school classes, where students have been weaving tirelessly in order to get to a finished product.
Recovery and comparison
D’orica found in the dialogue with such a close but different reality, a new opportunity of development. The collaboration with D’orica was welcomed enthusiastically by Art school De Fabris since the beginning. The activities of the school are designed to recover a craftsmanship’s legacy that its rooted in the reality of the territory.
The exchange
People and their role have always been at the center of our work and this project is a step to turn our interest to the outside world, giving students the chance to experience real craftsmanship in their territory. The students of Art school De Fabris approached all production processes and learned the know-how from our craftsmen, while we obtained new ideas and a fresh vision from them. The school now has a new computer lab, thanks to 11 iMac computers bought by D’orica, in addition to 500 euro to spend in books. The laboratory will be equipped with 22 computers by the end of 2015.
The training that was missing
The collaboration with D’orica gave students the opportunity to learn something more about jewelry production process. The jewel is not only an artifact that needs to be planned, designed and built as a model, but the complete design process ends with the verification of the finished product and the resulting variations. By talking to those in the trade, the training allowed students to analyse changes that can be made before placing a product in the market. This interesting working phase can be explored only if the school works in conjunction with a company, because specific technologies and sufficient experience in the field are especially needed.