Schooled in Tradition

Italy’s jewelry powerhouse launched the Damiani Academy in 2019 to train new generations in the precious craftsmanship of handmade jewelry – and give them jobs.

Founded in 1924, Damiani is the Made in Italy jewelry brand par excellence. Today it’s led by the third generation of the founder’s family, which for almost 100 years has been creating its artistry in Valenza, Piedmont – the heart of Italy’s goldsmith region.

Thanks to its strong roots in the area, Damiani is one of the few international companies that designs and produces its own jewels, with the care and passion of dedicated craftsmanship. The maison is the only goldsmith company in the world to have won 18 Diamonds International Awards.

In 2019, Damiani strengthened its leading position in the field by founding the Valenza-based Damiani Academy. The company’s president, Guido Grassi Damiani, explains the reasons for this new initiative.

Why did you feel the need for this academy?
The Damiani Academy is a high-level, free training project that aims to create technical specializations in the field of goldsmith-craft production, thanks to a specific apprenticeship that will guarantee a position in the world of work. We offer our students the unique opportunity to receive the very best training while maintaining the tradition of handmade jewelry.

We are particularly proud of this initiative, which is a focal point of our activities to support the new generations. The academy’s aim is also to enhance the “Made in Italy” status and to pass on our goldsmith’s artistic and cultural heritage.

We also intend to identify and inspire the young generations of master goldsmiths through our continued support of the Mani Intelligenti Foundation.

How can students enroll in the academy? Do you accept international students?
We collaborate with Manpower and students are selected through this channel. Currently we only take Italian students, but we have plans to also include international ones.

How many students attend the academy each year?
The academy welcomes more than 60 young talents every year, who are selected from over 500 applications. They attend five-week courses alongside the most skilled goldsmiths and setters. At the end of this specialized training, the most deserving and skilled are hired at the Damiani Laboratory.

How many courses are there and what crafts do you think are the most important to preserve and pass on to the next generation?
Bench goldsmith, setter and jewelry cleaner. I think these crafts are vital for the future generations.

How many students go straight into the industry and how many come from a non-jewelry background?
The majority of our students find a job immediately in our company or in other ones. There is a minority of non-jewelry background students, but they find no great difficulties in aligning with the others.

You have announced the creation of a new museum. Can you tell us about this initiative?
Damiani Group acquired the former exhibition center in Valenza in 2019 with the aim of transforming it into a cutting-edge production center and museum. The museum will house artifacts from our history, including the tools used in our craft, unique pieces, creations made with special techniques, and souvenirs from the sets of our advertising campaigns with movie stars and from the awards won by the company. Unfortunately, the EUR 10 million ($10.8 million) project was slowed down by the Covid-19 pandemic, but we are working hard to make this dream come true.