CAD/CAM and jewellery design education

The paper analyses pedagogical methods for incorporating computer aided design and manufacture into higher education jewellery design based on surveying five European universities: Birmingham City University (UK) Loughborough University (UK), Polytechnic of Milan (I), Kolding Design School (DK), Eindhoven University of Technology (NL). It seeks to identify strengths and weaknesses in contemporary teaching practices; highlighting innovative methods that nurture design problem solving, technical competence, exploration of new materials and dynamic form generation. Investigations concern possible teaching strategies for instructing students in the use of Computer Aided Design (CAD), through software such as Rhino3D, JewelCAD, Illustrator and Maya. Alongside modes of teaching Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM) including subtractive and additive technologies such as 3D Printing and CNC milling, alongside planar production through laser cutting and digital photo-etching.