About Us

New Approach School for Jewelers is a place to learn, thrive and grow in jewelry knowledge and experience.

Our facility is a perfect start on your journey to a career in jewelry, or as a learning tool to enhance your current jewelry offerings for business and clients. Our doors are open to students of all skill levels and we are dedicated to their success. We mentor, challenge and encourage students to be successful, profitable jewelers by preparing them to think independently and pro-actively. We provide personalized attention, hands-on learning and in person demonstrations by expert instructors to ensure concepts and techniques are correctly understood. We assist students with career skills, resume building and job placement for gainful employment.

NASJ creates a healthy, friendly and positive learning environment, while also challenging students to achieve skill levels they never knew possible.

We continually invest in the best technology with innovative teaching methods, including high definition video of live demonstrations on large screens with magnification, allowing us to create an interactive, user-friendly and hands-on environment to educate and inspire students. We provide a serious, intensive curriculum, and we also have fun. To do this, we value the safety and security of our students, and do not tolerate intoxication or drugs of any kind on our campus.

BLAINE LEWIS

Owner and President of New Approach School of Jewelry Arts

Owner, President, and Lead Instructor Blaine Lewis has been at the forefront of jeweler education for nearly 30 years. In that time, he has changed the landscape of the industry with his hands on approach, real world examples and brilliant techniques, teaching over 12,000 students to date. Initially based in Virginia, New Approach School for Jewelers is now located in Arrington, Tennessee, just 30 minutes from Nashville.
 

Our mission at the New Approach School for Jewelers is to offer both fresh and experienced bench jewelers visually intensive, hands-on jewelry design, fabrication, bench and repair skills and stone setting training to help them increase their productivity and profitability as professional jewelers.

To achieve this, NASJ employs innovative visual teaching methods, such as high magnification video of live demonstrations in a user-friendly and interactive workshop environment to help students rapidly grasp and implement bench techniques, practices, and tricks shared by our team of expert instructors.

Blaine is happily married to his wife Jill and they share three children, Ethan, Jordan and Grace.

DREW HADLEY

Instructor

At a young age, Drew was inspired by jewelry and gemstones. As a Senior in high school he held odd jobs in a dental lab with his father, but quickly found nothing would assuage his passion for jewelry. At this time, Drew searched for an avenue to become a successful jeweler.

Drew pursued his studies with an impressive list of instructors and schools all around the United States including the Texas Institute of Jewelry Technology, the Gemology Institute of America, The New Approach School for Jewelers, Kate Wolf, Jason Marchiafava, and Chris Ploof. Drew also sought out and studied with international Master Stone Setter, Alexander Sidorov, in Belgium.

These courses gave Drew the ability to practice and perfect a myriad of skills including wax carving, mokume gane, advance stone setting, hand engraving, hydraulic forming, CAD programming and 3D printing.

Drew worked for J. Nelson Designs to create one-of-a-kind designs and skillfully generate custom fabrication. Drew then went on to work for Tiffany & Co as a diamond setter with a perfect Quality Assurance record.

Drew Hadley now teaches alongside Blaine Lewis in many of the core classes at New Approach School for Jewelers; he is instrumental in teaching fundamental concepts and stone setting skills to students in the NASJ programs.

Drew is a natural teacher, with a quick sense of humor that puts students at ease. His impressive background, expertise and talent translates into a creative, well-rounded and popular instructor.

Drew is happily married to his wife, Presley Hadley and they share their lives with son Cooper and two dachshunds, Frankie and Miller.