For Career Choices Marrying Creativity & Commerce Acclaimed NYC Jewelry Design School Expands Curriculum for Aspiring Jewelry Artists and Designers

NEW YORK-(Business Wire)-September 29, 2009 - For those considering a career change or looking to pursue a passion that combines creativity and commerce, a shining option grows in Brooklyn. The Kristin Hanson Fine Jewelry School, located in a beautiful 5,000 square-foot loft in Brooklyn, NY, has expanded its jewelry design curriculum to six courses, each tailored to the skills and ambitions of beginners up to fine jewelry designers.

The Brooklyn design school was founded by acclaimed jewelry artist Kristin Hanson, who has designed for runway shows and was named as one of America's top 40 couture designers at the 2007 Couture Awards. Hanson’s provocative work and the school were recently featured in a 16-page spread in Gem Visions 2010, the annual design trend book of Swarovski’s ENLIGHTENED™ - Swarovski Elements.

Hanson studied with legendary master goldsmith Harold O'Connor, and pursued master training under Giampaolo Babetto at the Alchimia School of Contemporary Jewelry, in Florence, Italy.

“I try to inspire and teach jewelry design and metalsmithing in a manner that hastens their understanding, and accelerates the process of becoming a contemporary jewelry designer,” says Hanson, whose jewelry has appeared in American Couture Jewelry, Daily Candy, Ebony, Hollywood Life, InStyle, Inside Weddings, Jewelry W, Latina, Lucky, Out, and WWD. “We offer a unique combination of creative and technical skills, as well as business and marketing instruction, to give students the confidence, knowledge and ability to produce beautiful handcrafted, sellable jewelry.

All courses provide graduating students with contemporary fine jewelry worth far more than the cost of the course, showcasing their design and production abilities.

"I help students find a style that is unique to them,” says Kristin Hanson, who will join leading jewelry designers in Paris, during October’s Fashion Week, for the National Jewelry Institute’s Designer Showcase. “I don't tell them to look at magazines and get ideas from someone else's interpretation, I teach them how to look at real life and find inspiration for their jewelry."

A video tour of the school's Zen-inspired loft shows how it is designed to inspire and fuel creativity with bright natural lighting, a decor that reflects Ms. Hanson’s global travels, and a vitality that is present throughout the state-of-the-art workshop, gallery, drawing room and lounge area.

The Kristin Hanson Fine Jewelry School offers a range of jewelry design courses, regardless of a student’s skill level. Courses are intensive, one-on-one instruction that constantly expose students to new ideas and techniques. Students work with natural colored diamonds, precious stones and metals, and natural forms and found objects, such as carvings, bones/vertebrae, starfish, seahorses and baby shark jaw, in their jewelry design.

A few of the courses offered by The Kristin Hanson Fine Jewelry School are:

Find the Fundamentals - a 36-hour introductory course for students who want to create and discover fundamental jewelry techniques.

Discover Your Direction – a 240 hours course where students complete 12 jewelry projects.

Create Your Collection - a 9-month intensive course for serious students looking to create their own line of jewelry.

Build Your Brand – a comprehensive 2-year program that combines the skills to become an excellent jeweler, and the business skills needed to be successful at your new passion.

An online registration form allows visitors to express interest in any of the six courses and have a school representative contact them to provide additional information.

For more information on Kristin Hanson Fine Jewelry School or Kristin Hanson Jewelry, please visit http://www.kristinhansonjewelry.com/. Please contact Jacqueline Stone, kristinhansonjewelry@gmail.com.

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