Summer 2027 | Halkidiki, Greece |Maximum 4 Students
Jewellery Making Retreat in Greece
RESET · DESIGN · CREATE
Step away from your usual routine and give your jewellery practice the time and space it deserves.
Individually planned jewellery training, 35 hours of focused time at the bench and a full week experiencing Greece — time to learn and develop your skills, explore and work with new ideas and see jewellery making from a different perspective.
A different setting.
A fresh perspective.
The Greece programme brings the training approach of Jewellery Academia by Stelios Karantonas to our fully equipped studio in Neochori, Halkidiki — with the same focus on strong foundations, correct methods, practice, repetition and technical development, in a completely different setting.
With a maximum of four students and approximately 35 hours of training each week, we have the time to respond to where you are and where you want to go. Whether you are starting from the beginning, developing a particular technique or using the time to work on your own designs or collection, your training is planned around your experience and objectives.
But Greece gives us something that the studio alone cannot. Time away from the usual routine creates space to focus and find inspiration — to work seriously at the bench, then step outside it into the landscape, beaches, archaeology, food and culture around us.
The two programme weeks are rooted in Neochori, the village where I grew up, and built around a place I know personally rather than a destination chosen simply to host a jewellery training retreat. The studio, the village and the experiences beyond it all become part of the week, while your jewellery training and development remain at the centre of your time in Greece.
The setting changes. The standards at the bench don’t.
June & July 2027
Sunday arrivals & departures
1–3 weeks
Choose your length of stay
2 Weekly Schedules
Week A · Thessaloniki
Week B · Ammouliani Island
Maximum 4 students
Individual guidance
Reset
Step away from your daily routine and give yourself dedicated time in Greece, where the pace slows down, leaving space to experience the place, focus on your jewellery practice and explore where your creative journey might take you next.
Design
Explore new directions, refine your designs and give your ideas the time and attention they need to develop. Through individual guidance, take them further — whether you are developing a single piece of jewellery or working towards a wider collection
Create
Bring your ideas to the bench and develop them through dedicated studio practice. Build and refine your jewellery-making skills through practical work, individual guidance, repetition and problem-solving, while developing the control and technical understanding needed to take your work further.
What you work on in Greece depends on where you are starting, what you want to learn or develop, and how long you choose to join the programme.
Your individual training can include:
What will you make?
Learn the foundations of wax carving or develop existing skills through carving, forming, sculptural work, tool making and stone setting in wax.
Wax Carving
Goldsmithing & Silver Jewellery Making
Learn or develop fundamental bench skills through working directly in metal, including sawing, filing, forming, soldering, jewellery construction and finishing.
Stone Setting
Learn or develop stone-setting skills through wax and direct metalwork, with techniques selected around your experience and what you want to achieve.
EXPLORE STONE SETTING →
Specialist Techniques
Explore specialist areas of jewellery making, including Mitsuro Hikime, mother-of-pearl work and tool making. Learn a technique in its own right or explore how it can become part of your wider jewellery-making practice.
TAKE YOUR WORK FURTHER
Develop Your Own Work or Collection
Already working on your own jewellery? Bring a project, design or collection you want to develop — from exploring a new direction to preparing work for an upcoming or Christmas collection — and use your time in Greece to work through ideas, resolve technical challenges and move the work forward with individual guidance at the bench.
IN & BEYOND THE STUDIO
Your Time in Greece
Focused jewellery training. Dedicated bench time. Greece beyond the studio.
Work hard. Step outside the studio. Find inspiration. Return to the bench.
The programme is curated from a jeweller’s perspective, creating a rhythm between focused training and time beyond the studio — exploring the landscape, archaeology, museums, villages, beaches and local life, sharing experiences with the group, then returning to the bench with fresh energy, new ideas and more to explore long after the week is over.
WORK HARD
Focused jewellery training and dedicated bench time.
Step outside the studio and explore the landscape, archaeology, museums, villages and local culture — opening space for new ideas and directions.
BE INSPIRED
FOCUS MORE
Return to the bench to continue, practise and develop your work.
Exchange ideas, connect through shared experience and build friendships beyond the studio.
BUILD BONDS
RESET & RELAX
Beaches, food and everyday life beyond the studio.
Two Schedules. Two Experiences.
THESSALONIKI |AMMOULIANI
Week A · Thessaloniki: Introduces you to the city through its museums, archaeology, jewellery history, food and contemporary life.
Week B · Ammouliani Island: Takes the week in another direction — towards the coast, island life, beaches and a slower summer rhythm.
Join for one week and experience one programme. Stay for two or three consecutive weeks and your individual training continues to develop, while the experiences around it change from week to week.
WEEK A · Thessaloniki
Archaeological & Byzantine museums
Jewellery, art & culture
Architecture, history & contemporary city life
Food & markets
WEEK B · Ammouliani Island
Island landscapes & natural forms
Colour, texture & the Aegean environment
Traditional village & island life
Time by the sea
Choose one, two or three weeks in June or July.
Each stay runs Sunday to Sunday, subject to availability.
Programme Dates & Fees
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June & July 2027 · Sunday to Sunday
MONDAY TO SATURDAY PROGRAMME
SUNDAYS FOR AIRPORT ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES
Jewellery training and programme activities take place throughout the week.
Choose one, two or three consecutive weeks during June or July, with each week running from Sunday to Sunday.
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If you stay for two or three weeks, the full studio time and programme activities included in each week can be arranged more flexibly across your stay.
When planned in advance, this can leave space for remote work, your own plans or additional free time.
With a maximum of four students per week, places are subject to availability.
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Your final programme fee is calculated based on the number of weeks you choose and your choice of single or shared accommodation.
Payment by instalments is available.
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Your programme fee includes:
Jewellery training
Training materials including waxes, copper and CZ gemstones
Accommodation
Airport pick-up and drop-off
Local transport connected to the programme
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The programme fee does not include:
Flights to and from Greece
Food and drinks
Museum and attraction entrance tickets
Precious metals, gemstones other than the CZ gemstones provided for training
Casting costs
Personal expenses
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Neochori, Halkidiki, Greece.
The nearest airport is Thessaloniki (SKG).
Airport pick-up, drop-off and programme-related local transportation are included.
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Yes. Your training is planned around your starting point and the skills you want to develop.
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Yes. Your training can focus on refining existing skills, exploring specialist techniques or developing your own designs and collection.
Bring your ideas or work in progress, and we’ll shape your programme around your experience and what you want to achieve.
Let's plan your
time in Greece
TO START YOUR ENQUIRY
Complete the form and tell us a little about your plans:
When you would like to join
How long you would like to stay
What you would like to learn or develop
AFTER YOUR ENQUIRY
You will receive the full Greece Programme Information Pack, with detailed information about:
Accommodation
Transport
Payments for securing your place
Practical arrangements for your stay
Then we will arrange a call to discuss your training needs and answer any questions.
Have a question about the programme?
Location:
nearest airport (SKG) Thessaloniki
Neochori, Halkidikis
P.C. 63074
