Short course Baubles, trinkets, and precious stones a peek inside RAMM’s jewellery box - Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery

What is guilloché? How would you wear a girandole? Who exchanged their gold jewellery for iron?

As well as precious metals and gems, jewellery, dress and hair adornments have been made from every sort of material, from carved shells (cameos), crystals, micro-mosaics and volcanic lava from Mount Vesuvius to ‘every kind of beetle’, fossils, bird beaks, feathers and claws. Even human hair has been incorporated into lockets and bracelets.

We’ll take a look at the relationship between fashion, social etiquette and jewellery, examine some ‘secret’ jeweller’s techniques, and sneak a closer look at some of the amazing pieces in RAMM’s collections, from the luxury, opulence and eclecticism of 19th-century design to imaginative and fun 20th-century pieces in plastics and modern materials.

Course Tutor: Shelley Tobin

Shelley Tobin has worked in the museum and heritage sector for over 25 years, specialising in textiles and dress as a curator, author and dress historian. Shelley is currently the curator for RAMM’s extensive costume and textile collection and she is also a National Trust costume curator at Killerton.