Shawnee Morris

I am a 31 year old jeweller who has recently moved out to Chilliwack. I studied and graduated from VCC’s 2 year Jewellery Art and Design program. Prior to studying at VCC I have taken two different weekend jewellery-making courses at the University of Saskatchewan (beginners and advanced). Since my first year of school I have worked at Era Design in Vancouver as well as making my own jewellery and selling at markets in my spare time. My love for jewellery and the process of making it developed from seeing handmade jewellery at various craft fairs over the years. Slowly I have discovered the hand made jewellery industry and have become enthralled with the craft of working with metal and an appreciation for the talented individuals behind the all the sparkle!

Through my most recent job I have learned a lot of how the industry works and how to help customers with picking out or designing their dream ring. I have also enjoyed forming connections with suppliers with the Vancouver area.
 

Era Design:              May 2019 - July 2023
- Sales in fine jewellery
- Facilitating customers in designing custom rings (choice of design, desired stones, staying in budget, organizing timelines)
- Minor benchwork (cleaning up gold castings to high polish)
- Polishing / retexturing rings for customers 
- Quality control of all our pieces (examining them with a loup once they are at the finished stage to make sure everything is how the customer wanted / devoid of manufacturing defects / making sure all stones are secure in settings 
- Minor knowledge with a laser machine (fixing porosity, closing jump rings)
- Stone inspector (in charge of inspecting stones to be free of surface reaching inclusions & inclusions that compromise the integrity of the stone) *I took 2 years of gemmology at school and then was trained at my job. I do not have a gemmology diploma 
- Dealing with suppliers: sourcing stones, findings
- Taking in repairs from customers 
- Making job sheets for custom / repair jobs
- Taking in jewellery / stones from customers and facilitating projects with the designer to redesign the pieces
- Shipping orders 
- Experience helping customers find their ring sizes 
- In charge of keeping our store stock up to date (deciding which rings and accessories we are low on, what designs to restock, what stones to use)
- Stone, casting, & engraving preparation for jobs 
- Emailing & phone calls with customers 
Scheduling customers accordingly 
- Being the in-between person between the customers and the designer and goldsmith
- opening & closing responsibilities (including take jewellery out of safe and displaying daily, then putting away at night) 

Jewellery Art & Design Program (diploma at Vancouver Community College) 

A two year jewellery program where we learned how to make jewellery by hand and covered extensive techniques that this involves! 

Subjects included: 

- drawing, gemmology & learning about gemstones, metal techniques, design, art history, business, CAD for 3D modeling