What do you enjoy most about teaching? It is unbelievably rewarding, no matter what starting level they come in, to see how the student picks up new skills. When after a couple of days together they automatically grab the tools and attack the project exactly as I do myself and taught them, it gives me a great feeling. When after struggling through a couple hours of straight line cutting or drilling exercises I hear a joyful shout and see them grab their phone to photograph a perfect metal chip coming out of a beautiful cut line or straight drilled layout I’m just as happy as they are. Another big part I love about teaching is hearing from time to time about the projects they are working on or seeing the progress they are making with their work through photos and videos they share with me. To meet up with former students at trade shows or other events, and to hear how much they use and appreciate the techniques they learned from me and how it helps them in their career gives me a ton of pleasure as well and is definitely a major reason why I enjoy teaching so much. In addition to teaching, you also do work for clients. How do you divide your time between the two? In the workshop are two fully equipped benches with all the tools necessary to do stone setting and engraving work, one for my student and one for me. During the day the student works on his or her project and on a big screen where I see what they are doing. I give demo’s and guide them through the different exercises. At the same time I work on my own project for my private clients. It’s hard to give an exact percentage on how I divide my time between teaching and my own work. The students
training progress definitely has my number one priority, so how much time I can spend nowadays on my own work has decreased (during normal working hours). But I like the combination of the two and how I spend my days in the workshop. Many students like to see what I’m working on also and to see how I use the techniques they are learning at the moment on a daily basis myself. How do you go about promoting your work and gaining new clients? This has grown very organically without me putting a conscious effort in it to be honest. At the VicenzaOro show in 2018 Andrew Berry convinced me to make an account on Instagram (he definitely had to use all of his persuasive skills for that, and thank you Andrew for doing that!). On this page I very sporadically post a picture of some project that I’m working on or that is finished. Because, as a stone setter, many jobs I do aren’t my design or for my own private customers, I can’t share them on social media. But in a few instances I can after discussing it beforehand with the jeweler or designer. For quite a long time now I’m not in a position to receive and do more work, so I do promote my work from time to time but not with the intention of gaining new clients. Where do you go for inspiration? Are there particular artists that inspire you? I get inspiration from many different artists. There are so many very good artists in this world it’s unbelievable. Seeing their work makes me want to push my skills to the next level all the time.
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