3 What do you feel like you gained professionally from this course? Ben Bentvelzen When I look back from the end of the course till now and connect the dots then pretty much everything on a professional front I can trace back to my time in Antwerp. The course gave me the opportunity to meet all these other jewellers and craftspeople from around the world who are like me, enthusiastic about their craft. This is super inspiring and got me to jump out of bed every morning ready to crush another day in school. Because of the connections I made during my time in Antwerp I ended up working in Australia for 2 months, worked in Singapore for multiple months a year over a period of 5 years, met the GRS team at a trade show in 2014, and since then have been doing trade shows and teaching classes for them, did a private course with Sam Alfano after a recommendation from Andrew Biggs during the BaselWorld trade show, ended up in Austria as a private student of Martin Strolz after Sam Alfano referred me to him and I have a very good work relationship with Maxim Sidoroff since then. From time to time I meet up with old students when I teach in Copenhagen or attend a trade show somewhere around the world. This is always a blast. SterlingHofmann I gained so much doing this course. My stone setting skills improved tenfold. I learned how to better adapt to changing work circumstances or make my own tools if needed for specific jobs. I gained a steady hand needed when working with small gemstones or delicate projects. Not only did Maxime Carriere This course basically put me onto a whole different level of skills, I've learned some amazing techniques that are incorporated into my work which really helped my own business as well my abilities and confidence as a stone setter. Robert Robins I went with no knowledge of diamond setting at all. I would rely on a setter to do all that work for me. Finding a good setter in the UK is hard and often the quality wasn’t as good as what I knew it could be. I’ve gained the knowledge and skills to have the full control over producing the quality I expect from a piece of jewellery. Also I’m not having to rely on anyone else now! Kevin Biehn I definitely feel like I gained some of the highest standards in the industry. Basically to be like proficient and confident to set any style, pavé, or stone that comes my way at this point, because of Alexandre’s direction. Kevin Biehn instagram.com/kmbcustoms/ Robert Robins instagram.com/robertrobins/ robinsbrothers.co.uk/
my stone setting skills improve, but I gained so much more professionally in regards to friends and contacts in the industry that I can lean on with future projects. Those connections are priceless.
What was your favorite experience during your time in Belgium?
Ben Bentvelzen When I asked to join him (Alexandre) at the BaselWorld trade show in Switzerland to help promote his school and he said yes. When he received two 901 blank knobs from GRS to work on during the BaselWorld fair and gave me the ‘extra’ second one to work on during the course and the trade show. When he asked me to work for him during the summer holiday (as an independent contractor) on “real” stone setting jobs while his main setter was on holiday. When Alexandre asked me to stay for another year to work with him in his atelier.
SterlingHofmann I enjoyed the actual course so much, but honestly my favorite experience during the course was making such great friends that helped make the course so much more enjoyable. The group I was with was very close. We would all go out to lunch and dinner together, and on the weekends we would go to the local farmers market to buy Bratwursts and vegetables to make guacamole in the evening. We dubbed it our "Weekly Guac Night." Those are friends I'll have for a lifetime.
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