Introduction

Established in 1948, and situated in London's Hatton Garden, Holts has built a reputation for unrivalled expertise in sourcing, grading, cutting and polishing almost every type of gemstone. The company specialise in the wholesale of gemstones and jewellery and offer services in jewellery design and manufacture, antique restoration, gemstone testing, valuations, bead stringing and manage a gemstone and jewellery school.

Gem School

Holts train a wide variety of clients in gemstone cutting and basic gemmology, ranging from experienced jewellers to newcomers to the industry. The gemstone school won the prestigious National training award in 2002. This award is considered the highest accolade given to training providers.

Holts Jewellery School

Once upon a time, if you set your heart on becoming a jewellery designer, or a lapidary, or a bench jeweller you could sign up for an apprenticeship or get yourself on a commercial training course without very much effort.

Now it seems those options have virtually disappeared. Lapidaries are on the endangered species list and it's a shocking realisation that so little work-skills training is on offer within the trade. That's why I set up the London Gemstone School in 1998, and established the Holts Jewellery School in 2002 with European backing and lots of support from the jewellery trade. Because at R. Holt & Co. over the last 55 years, we've witnessed the changes and are convinced that work-skills training is essential to secure the future of our industry. That's one reason we kept our lapidary apprenticeship scheme going while everyone else cut back.

With hindsight it is easy to see what has happened. The workforce skills of the jewellery trade haven't been nurtured and practical training hasn't been a priority. So we are faced with a huge skills shortage, which Holts Jewellery School, our supporters and other training providers are working hard to address.

For those who love a happy ending, the good news is that we have effectively brought back training options for those working in Hatton Garden and are receiving national training recognition as a result. Now we can offer commercial training in jewellery manufacturing techniques, lapidary skills and gemmology with classes taught by industry experts in a workshop environment. Our training is tailored to suit each student's experience and focussed on teaching the sought-after practical skills which the trade needs.

So while we have come a long way - we have all got a long way to go. As leading gem stone dealers and lapidaries, at Holts we will continue to do everything possible to ensure that the expertise of our trade's craftsmen is passed on, that the skills that we teach are relevant and transferable, and that we play our part in attracting fresh talent into the trade.

Jason Holt, Director

MIL Support

It is thanks to the support from Made In London SRB6 that the Jewellery school was made possible. The funding starting Quarter 4 2002, allowed us to purchase some of the tools and equipment. The funding to end year 2003/2004 provided some of the running costs of the school. This funding was part and necessary match to an ESF project. The school has had a major impact on the jewellery industry. Manufacturing skills are on the decline and it has been well researched and documented that without major impetus on training, locally manufactured goods will disappear within 5 to 10 years. This school is the start of a major process to reverse this decline.