About Us
Meet the team
Here at Highland School of Jewellery we have a dedicated team of experienced jewellery makers and teachers. Our specialist subject areas reach across a wide range of areas from digital technologies to stone setting and casting. We have a core team of teachers that deliver our workshops, but don’t forget to also keep an eye out for classes from our special guest teachers!
Dr Karen-Ann Dicken
Karen-Ann Dicken is a jewellery designer, lecturer and founder of Highland School of Jewellery. She graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2005 and the Royal College of Art in 2007 with an MA in Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery. Karen has recently finished her PhD at the University of Dundee, focusing on the use of digital technologies to create tooling for handcraft. She has seventeen years' teaching experience in Colleges and Universities across Scotland. Karen has exhibited internationally as well as won multiple awards for her designs, including ten Goldsmiths Craft and Design Awards in the fields of Gallery Design, Laser Sintering, and CAD. Her specialist subject areas include 3D printing and digital technologies, computer aided design, and laser welding.
Thomas Lacroix
Thomas Lacroix is a self-employed jewellery designer. He completed both his first degree and Masters at the École Boulle in Paris, where he specialized in metal engraving (graduating in 1996). Thomas set up his own business, Goosewing Jewellery, in 2017. Goosewing Jewellery caters for both existing jewelers as well as clients requiring bespoke designs. Thomas has considerable technical experience in undertaking jewellery repairs, replacing or replicating jewellery (such as a lost earrings), and creating bespoke jewellery for his clients. Thomas specializes in technical jewellery-making techniques such as engraving and stone setting. He is currently developing his own range of designs, entitled ‘Meanders’.
Our Work
Guest Lecturers
From time to time we will be hosting master classes here at Highland School of Jewellery who will be delivering specialist techniques. Find out about our guest lecturers below:
Professor Sandra Wilson
Sandra Wilson is professor emerita of ecological metal design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design part of the University of Dundee. She works with precious metals recovered from electronic waste and promotes frugal ways of working like keum-boo with endangered metals such as gold. Her award-winning work has been exhibited internationally and has been featured in Crafts Magazine, Metalsmith magazine and a new book by Hole and Corner called Make Well. Her unique approach has also been featured in a BBC Scotland video. Her research practice is supported by various UK research councils, the Daiwa Foundation and the Endangered Material Knowledge Programme of the British Museum. Sandra has taught jewellery & metal design all levels of study at DJCAD part of the University of Dundee for over 20 years.
Ailsa Wilde
Ailsa Wilde is a jewellery tutor and secondary school teacher in Design Technology. Ailsa’s passion for jewellery-making began in 2005 when she embarked on her BA (Hons) in Three-Dimensional Design at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen and chose to specialise in jewellery. After living in New Zealand for three years, she returned to Scotland to set up her own jewellery business, Crafty Wolf. She then studied for her PGDE to become a secondary school Design and Technology teacher. Ailsa taught in a private school in Edinburgh for six years before returning to Inverness where she continues to teach in Design and Technology. Ailsa has introduced and developed a National Progression Award (NPA) in jewellery within her school, which is the first to be established in the Highlands region.