This year Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts celebrates its 30th anniversary. As Alan Revere takes time to look back on the three decades of jewelry training, he’s also paving the Academy’s future plans with new curriculum on “green jewelry,” a program dedicated to recycling old jewelry to create new designs.  

Since the academy’s inception in April 1979, founder and director Revere, and other leading jewelry talents, have instructed students over the years to become industry leaders in their own rights.  

As a master goldsmith and award winning jewelry designer, Revere began offering private lessons in 1979. “When I opened the Revere Academy, I had no idea where it was headed,” says Revere. “I had just returned from rigorous jewelry training in Germany. When I met jewelers here and spoke with them, I quickly learned there was a need for professional jewelry training here in San Francisco.”

Three decades later, the school has played a major role in training jewelers, artists and hobbyists with many renowned jewelers who have taught at Revere, including Michael Good, Charles Lewton-Brain, Tim McCreight, John Cogswell, Jean Stark and Doug Zaruba.

In addition to teaching Revere’s regular curriculum, these accomplished jewelers have been frequent guest instructors at the Academy’s annual Master’s Symposium. And, leading jewelry designing heavyweights such as Germany’s master gem designer, Bernd Munsteiner and David Yurman, have exclusively taught at Revere.

Such stellar instruction has created graduates who have made their own impact on the industry. One of Revere’s first students became the shop foreman for the manufacturing division of QVC, managing over a thousand workers. After meeting Revere in the 1970’s, noted master goldsmith Kent Raible went to Germany where he mastered granulation, a technique that placed his work in the Smithsonian Museum.

In looking ahead, Revere is seeking to become a leader in “green jewelry” instruction. Assistant director Christine Dhein recently structured the class in conjunction with a “radical jewelry makeover” for people to recycle their old jewelry into fashionable contemporary jewelry art.

For more information, please visit www.revereacademy.com.

JCK