BAJ Students Take to the Streets of London with Thought-Provoking Designs

22 Jan 2025

First-year BA (Hons) Jewellery Design and Production students from the British Academy of Jewellery (BAJ) descended upon Euston station in London for the innovative, interactive project ‘Welcome to London’

In this project, students were asked to think big and create a piece of large sculptural jewellery inspired by the surroundings of Euston train station – one of the busiest stations in the UK and a few minutes walk away from BAJ’s Euston campus. Working in small groups, they were asked to research and uncover something in the immediate area around the station to draw inspiration from to design their sculptural jewellery.

For this project, students were challenged to consider the audience and think about what their piece could communicate, and how to convey this message. The students were tasked with collecting feedback from people at the station and observing how they perceive and interact with their work.

In line with BAJ’s commitment to sustainability, parameters were set for the students to use only found or sustainable materials for their design, and think about how the choice of particular materials can communicate their ideas.

Wear and Tear

“This lock was made to represent the security and restrictive access around Euston, as a result of the redevelopment. Inside the lock is a scene that shows two different sides to the area. One shows the modern buildings but with restricted access. The other shows a rundown street that reflects the forgotten areas of town that need developing but are being neglected.”

- Beatrix, Veroni, Avant

Public reaction:

“We received the comment ‘Messy, cluttered, terribly engineered’ that reflects the worn-down parts of town, and ‘Development had a terrible impact on the area, it affects the locals and benefits the wealthy’, which mirrors the reasoning behind the contrast of our two scenes (rundown street being left, rich office buildings being developed).”
- Beatrix, Veroni, Avant

Student experience:

"It was a new experience for us interacting with the public in a busy area. It was interesting to see how similar people's opinions were on the area, despite their different backgrounds and reason for visiting."
- Beatrix, Veroni, Avant

View British Academy of Jewellery

Source: British Academy of Jewellery