Growing up in family of artists, Leif Benner was set on a career
in creativity from the time he was a school kid in London,
Ontario.
Asked whether he was always into jewellery, the George Brown
College Jewellery Arts grad replies, "No, not back then, but
I was interested in every artistic outlet around - music, cooking,
all the creative arts."
Leif first became involved with the jeweller's
art around the time he was getting married. "I met a goldsmith who
let me hang around his studio for a couple weeks while
he made our wedding bands," he
remembers. "I was fascinated by the process and to learn that each
piece of jewellery is essentially a little sculpture."
Although he
was intrigued by the "bit of romance" and the
highly technical skills required to work with gold and
precious stones, Leif was still planning to attend George Brown College's
Chef School. Then by chance, he came across the Jewellery Arts program
while flipping
through the GBC course calendar.
"In London, there are quite a few goldsmiths, so I asked
if anyone from George Brown had done apprenticeships, and
heard only good things," says Leif. "I decided to apply
to both programs, with Jewellery Arts as my first choice. I figured
I could always fall
back on being a chef."
The Jewellery Arts faculty recognized the
gleaming potential beneath Leif's inexperience, and although he
had never touched a piece of metal, he liked that he was immediately immersed
in the medium.
"At that point in my life I was looking for something really
fresh. You just jumped right in and they gave you everything
you needed," Leif
explains. When asked how he developed his unique style
of distinctive yet classic pieces, Leif credits the mix of courses at
GBC.
"The Profs encourage creativity but always give you grounding
in the traditional way to get results," he says. "The way
the courses are set up, you study the skills most relevant
to your interests whether they are more on the artistic or the business
side."
After graduating from the program with honours, Leif was
accepted as an Artist in Residence at Harbourfront where
he concentrated on perfecting his craft and began to sell
his pieces. Inspired by his
mother, a restaurateur, Leif leased one of the first studio
spaces in the now wildly popular Distillery District, and
is now in the enviable
position of deciding whether or not to expand a successful
business.
"It's tempting to expand, but I don't want to lose the personal
touch of dealing with my customers directly and the creative satisfaction
I get from that."
Read more
stories from George Brown Graduates...
To learn more, visit the George
Brown College Alumni page.
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