Meet our tutors - Kirstin Moore Estaugh

Kirstin Moore Estaugh is our talented Jewellery Making tutor with a passion for sharing her love of jewellery design among her students. She graduated with a BA(Hons) Degree in Metalwork and Jewellery from Sheffield Hallam University and a master’s degree In Jewellery from UCA. Since then, she has had her work exhibited in China, the US and UK and enjoys making narrative, conceptual art jewellery alongside more traditional pieces.

She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience working in a variety of roles in the jewellery industry. Throughout her career she has worked as an inhouse jewellery designer in Burlington Arcade, a manager of a retail jewellers and pawn brokers, and has run her own business designing and making commission work.

Kirstin encourages her students to master their skills and experiment with their jewellery designs using a variety of techniques. She says: “I love teaching and find it genuinely heart-warming when a student finishes a piece that they are delighted with, or to see them master a new technique. My current students will vouch for my excited clapping when they have finished a piece!”

Kirstin’s inspiration comes from the work of jewellers Shaun Leane, Caroline Broadhead and silversmith Adi Toch. She says: “Shaun Leane has fused traditional jewellery making skills with conceptual, fashion led jewellery. Caroline Broadhead is inspirational as a leader of the new jewellery movement, opening up the use of new materials and techniques to jewellery making. Adi Toch is a silversmith, using very traditional metalworking techniques to create traditional and experimental silverware.”

Kirstin’s Jewellery courses are fun and teach students basic jewellery making techniques such as soldering, forming, annealing and sawing. Students will advance to learn more skilled techniques such as stone setting, sand casting and reticuation.