Creative Links: AI and Jewellery – What are the opportunities?

AI is part of our everyday lives, whether we are aware of its presence or not. Many businesses and organisations are starting to employ it to support their work, but as individual makers or small businesses navigating this opportunity can be daunting. Join this in-conversation, chaired by Lynne Craig, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor), Institute for Design Informatics, University of Edinburgh to be onboarded into the world of AI’s potential.

Lynne will be joined by Mick Grierson, Professor of Computer Science working at the intersection of AI and the Creative Industries, Toyin Laketu a fashion business and digital consultant and Ana Thompson, an award-winning multidisciplinary designer, jeweller and educator. They will discuss and share their broad reaching experience of AI, question how it can help and ask – what does the jewellery industry need from AI? Whether you are curious about AI, or starting to explore its potential, this conversation will offer new perspectives.

For Ana, “Embracing AI is about opening new creative possibilities, redefining how we imagine, design, collaborate and produce. It enables more fluid intersections between tradition and innovation and creates new opportunities for personalisation and co-creation, transforming the way consumers engage with jewellery and design.” Join us to see what is possible.

At the beginning of the event there will be the opportunity to network and talk to peers, and at the conclusion of the conversation the panelists will be pleased to answer your questions.

Image credit: The Sixth Sense Body Adornment by Ana Thompson – Goldsmiths' Craft & Design Council 2024 Award Winner

Lynne Craig’s work is framed by the title, ‘Computational Adornment’ and examines sustainable innovation design for technologies to wear, previously founding Holition, emergent from the jewellery industry. Drawing on expertise in high-value manufacture, specialist craft and jewellery material knowledge, Lynne’s work weaves new data-informed narrative threads for Human Computer Interaction and (HCI) Human Robot Interaction (HRI), with current focus on, 'Dressing Robots.' Playing with fashion, technology and craft in an era of AI, design and complexity, her pioneering work has been featured in New York Times, Financial Times, BBC World Service, Tatler, Business of Fashion, Telegraph, Independent, Dezeen, Wired, and Forbes. Lynne serves as Associate Professor, Institute for Design Informatics at University of Edinburgh, previously leading Innovation at Edinburgh Futures Institute, and as board member of Technology Advisory Strategy Committee (TASC), at Goldsmiths Centre.

Professor Mick Grierson is a Professor of Computer Science who has worked at the intersection of AI and the Creative Industries for 25 years, raising approx. £15 million from governments and foundations, including for the UK’s first Creative Deep Learning research project, MIMIC (2018), in partnership with Google Magenta. He is founder of the discipline of Creative Computing and co-founder of UAL Creative Computing Institute (CCI). His research lab produced some of the first Creative AI research, including the first commercial video artwork using Deep Learning (AutoEncoding Bladerunner, 2016), the first real-time interactive video generation system using Deep Learning (Learning to See, 2019), and the first professional quality generative audio system (MAGNet, 2016). This was used by Massive Attack in 2018 to create the first CD quality neural synthesis full-length work, Mezzanine Vs MAGNET, which toured for 5 years. He co-founded music technology startups in AI and generative music, including Bronze Format Limited in 2010. He led the first BSc and MSc Creative Computing programmes in the UK (2007/8), and the first Massive Open Online Course in Creative Programming in the world (2013), attracting 250,000 learners. 

Toyin Laketu is a fashion business and digital consultant with over 15 years of experience in international business development. Her passion is to help demystify the difficulties of taking the next business steps to grow, helping brands to make good business decisions with confidence, enabling them to be bold and proactive.

Ana Thompson is an award-winning multidisciplinary designer, jeweller and educator with a background in Industrial Design and an MA in Jewellery Design. She is the founder of Ana Thompson Fine Jewellery, a practice celebrated for sculptural contemporary creations that merge traditional craftsmanship with digital innovation. Drawing on her Colombian heritage and a deep connection to the natural world, Ana’s work is inspired by the hidden beauty and unseen forces of the macro and micro worlds. Her jewellery evokes a sense of wonder and discovery, Her timeless elegant, elegant and versatile designs are characterised by fluid, organic geometries and a distinctive fusion of cultural richness with nature-inspired artistry. With a focus on innovative materials and exceptional craftsmanship, Ana offers a modern approach to fine jewellery that connects the wearer to the beauty, balance, and poetic essence of the world around us. Her work has received multiple awards in the UK and Colombia, and has been showcased internationally, including at London Fashion Week, Bogotá Fashion Week, the Bienal Iberoamericana de Diseño, and MIT Media Lab.