About this experience
Sri Lanka has been a source of precious stones for centuries, and the southern city of Galle gave rise to its own distinct jewellery tradition — one that places the gemstone at the centre of everything. Where the Kandyan tradition is built around intricate metalwork, the Galle tradition is defined by the stone itself: the way it is cut, how it sits in its setting, and the quality of gold or silver chosen to hold it. This three-hour workshop brings that tradition into the workshop of a generational craftsman, where you work alongside a maker rather than simply watching from across the room.
The session covers the full arc of jewellery making from raw material to finished piece. You begin with the metal — gold or silver — learning to melt, gauge, and hammer it into shape before moving through soldering, designing, and setting. A motorised rotary engraving tool is used for finer work, and the bench you sit at is a traditional curved wooden jeweller's bench of the kind Sri Lankan craftsmen have used for generations. The lapidary side of the workshop is equally hands-on: you hold a dop stick against a spinning lap wheel to cut and polish a stone, and you handle both rough and polished gems — precious and semi-precious — that have come from Sri Lankan mines, feeling the difference in texture, weight, and light before and after cutting.
Part of the session is devoted to knowledge that is harder to come by outside a professional workshop. The craftsman will show you how to tell a genuine gemstone from an imitation, and how to read a finished jewellery piece to assess whether the metal is what it claims to be. Sri Lanka produces a remarkable range of gemstones, and being able to hold and examine different varieties — cut, uncut, and in various stages of polish — gives that knowledge a tangible grounding.
The workshop runs from Galle and the option is entirely private, so the pace and focus of the session can follow your interest. An English-speaking guide accompanies you throughout. At the close of the session, should you wish to take home the piece you have worked on during the day, that is possible — the cost of the materials and stones used would be settled separately at that point, and is not part of the workshop itself.
