Explore a City of Craft!

As part of the HAW.International program, a two-semester interdisciplinary project entitled “Explore a City of Craft!” was carried out, bringing together the fields of gemstone and jewelry design, photography and visual communication, cultural studies, and jewelry history.

Project partners included the École nationale supérieure d’art in Limoges and Trier University of Applied Sciences, Campus Gemstone and Jewelry in Idar-Oberstein, as well as industry collaborators such as model designer Marie-Laure Trochon, the Klein & Becker company, and designers from the jewelry and porcelain sectors. Guided by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 17), students explored the craft traditions of gemstone processing in Idar-Oberstein and porcelain production in Limoges. The aim was to translate the underlying—often implicit—knowledge into innovative, digital formats of knowledge transfer, while also identifying and visualizing the differences and similarities in materials and techniques.

The project began with participants engaging locally: visiting workshops in their cities and conducting interviews with master craftsmen. Their findings were shared in an online exchange. A collection of resources was created for the partner city, including image documentation, production remnants, and two printed maps that provided access to interviews and additional information via QR codes.

Highlights of the project included guest lectures by two professors from Limoges in Idar-Oberstein, as well as reciprocal student visits to the partner “Craft City.” The project inspired new teaching and research topics and laid the groundwork for further exchange programs—making a valuable contribution to the preservation and contemporary transmission of craft heritage in the context of globalization and sustainability.