To highlight the importance of the support offered to our students by our collaborative subsidy scheme in conjunction with the Goldsmiths’ Centre, we’ve asked some of the students supported through the scheme to share their experience, and tell us about how Setting Inclusivity has helped them in their creative practise.
I’ve enjoyed taking part in sewing workshops in CSSJ’s sister school above the jewellery workshop. For a long time, I would pass by the jewellery studio and peek in with a mix of admiration and hesitation. The tools, the flames, the precision – it all looked a bit intimidating. I’d tell myself it wasn’t for people like me. Living with serious illness, a spinal cord injury, and the effects of trauma, I worried that my body simply wouldn’t let me take part in something so hands-on and intricate.
But thanks to funding from Goldsmiths, I finally had the chance to try – and I’m so glad I did.
From the very first class, my fears started to melt away. The tutors were incredibly understanding and creative in how they taught, always offering multiple ways of doing things so everyone could find a method that worked for them. Its also driven by an individual’s own pace and needs and of course to my relief a lot of it involved sitting down!
Jewellery making has become an unexpected powerful outlet for me. It’s a way to focus, to be present, and to feel a sense of achievement. There’s something deeply empowering about turning raw materials and metal into something beautiful, especially when your body doesn’t always cooperate in daily life. It is a real unexpected source of joy.
More than anything, this course has reminded me that I’m still capable of learning, creating, and thriving. I’m so grateful to Goldsmiths for making this journey possible – not just for what I’ve made with my hands, but for what it’s helped me reclaim in myself.
Anne-Marie
