From pre-historic time till the mid-twentieth Century, people wore jewellery to showcase their wealth, power, social and religious status, superiority and their aesthetic sense. After the Second World War, many of the societies in Europe and America were turned upside down.

The great loss of lives made many artists questioned the traditional values, and reflected on the question of self-identity. The scarcity of materials also pushed many artists to start making jewellery. Together with the new materials made available through technology advancement, the studio jewellery movement was born. At the core of the movement is a deep desire to establish values and identity through jewellery. In many ways, jewellery is the ideal art form to consider a person's values, and to explore the possibilities of utilizing or challenging traditional meanings.

In this course, students will be guided to develop a series of work that reflects their stance on contemporary issues. They will start by studying the traditional meanings of jewellery, and their connections to the underlying craftsmanship. Once these connections are made, they will look at how the studio jewellery movement pushed these apart, and used new ideas and materials to create a new set of language. The students will then reflect on their own perception, develop a series of jewellery, and present their work and research findings to the class.