Mentorship Programme
Jewellery Tool Box, 2023
In partnership with
De Beers Group
Jewellery Tool Box
On March 21st 2023 the first set of Leopard jewel-tool boxes, sponsored by De Beers Group, was delivered to Aston University Engineering Academy which provides the best 13 to 19 year-old academic and technical education in the Birmingham area.
The boxes which contain equipment and tools necessary to create a piece of jewellery, were hand delivered by the Leopards with the aim to shine a light on jewellery making, to nurture young talent into the industry and to reach young people in secondary education around the UK, who otherwise wouldn’t have access to jewellery as a career. It will be a way to encourage confidence, self-satisfaction and the pure fun to be found in the joy of working with hands.
Design is one area of expertise but The Leopards also want to encourage the ‘Made by Hand’ ethos as an achievement to be celebrated. The objective of the toolboxes is to interest young people in learning the skills of jewellery and silversmithing to give them a trade for life and hopefully a rewarding career as a jeweller – with the longer-term aim of encouraging ancient artisanal skills which are currently threatened in this country, to be passed to a new generation.
A Leopard jewel-tool box is the key to some fundamental techniques of jewellery making and how to be at the work bench. A jewel is greater than the sum of its part design, craft and materials combine to make something decorative and unique.
Design Competition, 2021
In partnership with
Vogue Magazine
The Leopards and The Prince’s Trust
The Leopards are a like-minded group of British designers and jewellery professionals who have come together to celebrate the wonder, art and desire that jewellery inspires.
Brought together by a passion for their craft and the future of goldsmithing in the UK, The Leopards are partnering with The Prince’s Trust and The Goldsmiths’ Centre to offer a unique training experience to guide and encourage young people into the jewellery industry.
The Competition
Entrants are invited to design a piece of jewellery inspired by UK Architecture. Using the definition of architecture as “the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings” the design should be supported by preparatory work which links to the specific piece(s) of architecture that provided inspiration.
2021 Design Competition Winners
FUTURE STARS
Megan Brown
Emma Quinn
Claire Skelton
Noi McMillan
Jessica Arawitese
Our Mentees
Jessica Awaritefe
My time as a mentee at Stephen Webster was a gift. Prior to that, my skills were very basic and I had an idea of making jewellery but being in the work environment at Stephen Webster and seeing the day-to-day making gave me a lot more perspective, essentially opening me up to a whole new way of seeing.
“My experience gave me the chance to learn and be ready for when the opportunity for a job as an assistant maker came. I had pieces that had been made to a very high standard ready to show, an experience that I would not have gotten from college alone and insights to the beautiful world of Jewellery to share”
Jessica Awaritefe
“Jessica has been a model Mentee. She was very clear that she wanted to pursue a career as a bench jewellery. She embraced all the skill learning disciplines require to become a top craftsperson. Once a week we met and talked about the current pieces she had been working on. Toward the completion of the time Jessica spent with us, she was becoming more confident with the tools and processes she had been practicing. Her enthusiasm was contagious and everyone enjoyed her being part of the team”
Stephen Webster
Hannah Mccoy
I absolutely loved my time with The Leopards. I was so lucky to get to train with the country’s best jewellers and industry experts, it taught me so many things, gave me so much confidence and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I decided to start a company called Bexiaa London, named after my best friend Becky who died.
Alex Angel-Benscher
When I first came up for the idea of Vurchoo – a jewellery range which helps children all around the world off the streets and into education, I needed help with the first steps onto the ladder. This is where The Prince’s Trust became so important to me. They gave me awareness of the skills needed to succeed as well as mentorship/funding to start the brand.
“This helped me enormously to turn my life of a ‘stuck in a rut graffiti artist’, into an extremely happy dad of two, with a bright future of my own ahead. The mentorship continues to this day and how I met the Leopards, who have helped physically and inspirationally to create my biggest piece to date - ‘The World at Your Fingertips’ - using natural diamonds and a unique sky-blue topaz, inspired by how the work of the Prince’s Trust truly opens the world of possibility to so many and the profits of this ring will go back directly to The Prince’s Trust”
Alex Angel–Benscher