Meet our Founder

When the New York Jewelry Design Institute was first conceived, jewelry design education looked very different. Trained as an interior designer in Italy and later as a bench jeweler in New York, I found myself bringing together two disciplines that were rarely taught as one: the principles of design and the technical realities of how jewelry is actually made.

I saw a need for an approach to jewelry education that could bridge those worlds—giving designers the ability not only to imagine a piece, but to communicate it visually and understand how it could be brought to life. That idea became the New York Jewelry Design Institute.

At the time, many traditional rendering techniques and specialized skills I wanted to develop were difficult to find and certainly weren’t available at the click of a button. I sought out the knowledge, studied, experimented, and continued refining my approach through years of practice and teaching. Over time, those early courses grew into a broader curriculum devoted to jewelry design, rendering, technology, and the skills necessary to develop an original collection.

Since I founded NYJDI in 2011, the landscape of jewelry design education has transformed dramatically. Techniques that were once difficult to access are now shared globally and instantly. I’m proud that NYJDI was part of that evolution—and, above all, proud of the designers who came through its doors and learned to turn an idea into something of their own.

From Concept to Creation.