The Tradition, Technique, and Craft of Engraving With Jeff Parke

Speaker

Jeff Parke

DMSE Metal Arts Lecture Series Speaker

About This Talk

Master engraver and goldsmith Jeff Parke will discuss the art and craft of ornamental engraving, sharing techniques and insights from his work in jewelry, knives, and luxury watches. His talk and demonstrations will explore traditional decorative metalworking on steel and fine metals, including hand-push engraving and pneumatic engraving, an air-powered technique for cutting metal.

Parke’s demonstrations will also highlight advanced applications such as stone setting and gold inlay, showing how traditional engraving practices continue to evolve through the use of modern tools and technology.

Parke’s talk is part of a weeklong micro-residency at MIT and the DMSE Metal Arts Lecture Series, which features metalsmiths firmly rooted in craft who actively innovate and push their medium forward. His visit is presented in collaboration with Craft in America’s “Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026,” a nationwide initiative highlighting the importance of handmade arts throughout American history and contemporary life.

About the Speaker

Jeff Parke is a world-renowned engraver and goldsmith with a focus on jewelry, knives, and luxury watches. He began his metalsmithing career in the workshop of his family-owned jewelry store in 2006 and continued as an apprentice under Master Jeweler Greg Ortega. He deepened his training studying ornamental engraving under masters Jason Marchiafava, Sam Alfano, Alain Lovenburg, and Alexander Siderov.

Parke shares his expert craftsmanship teaching hand engraving at the GRS Training Center in Emporia, Kansas, the Texas School of Engraving in Houston, Texas, the New Approach School for Jewelers in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Jewelry School in both Saint Petersburg and Moscow, Russia. Currently, he runs his own engraving school in Mesa, Arizona.