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Where Artistry Begins
Venetian plastering training and Venetian plaster courses at our Birmingham studio, taught at the bench by a working master. Six seats, real walls, and the same Italian materials we sell and install, with students travelling in from across the UK. Leave with the skill, the certificate, and a trade account with the house behind you.
Venetian plaster sits at the premium end of decorative work. Clients pay for walls a roller cannot imitate, and there are far fewer people trained to deliver them, so those who can are in demand.
Leave with the certificate, buy your materials at trade price, and keep a working master one message away on the course helpline. Many students price their first commission above the cost of the course itself.
Choose Your Course
Three full days on the trowel. Substrate prep, base coats, and your first complete Venetian plaster walls in the classic finishes, from bucket to burnish.
Or £375 books your bench and £375 is due on the day · by phone, 07592 929191, or email sales@zavore.co.uk
Four days of advanced craft. Artificial rock, textured marmorino, vein work and acrylic polish plastering, with tinting, coloured waxes and colour blending.
Or £600 books your bench and £600 is due on the day · by phone, 07592 929191, or email sales@zavore.co.uk
A working master to yourself for three days. We’ll teach you anything you’d like, so the course is completely tailored to your needs.
Or £750 books your dates and £750 is due on the first day · by phone, 07592 929191, or email sales@zavore.co.uk
Our polished plaster courses are all taught at the bench by a working master, on the same materials we sell and install. This is what each one covers.
Taught by working applicators who install these exact walls for clients, not classroom only trainers.
We cap the Beginner and Advanced courses at six benches, a deliberate choice so we can give real quality to every student. And the 1 to 1 is exactly that. One student, one master, undivided.
Authentic Italian plasters, primers, waxes, trowels and panels. Nothing to bring but yourself.
Priority booking for the Advanced Course, and we'll help you find, price and win your first paid decorative job.
Trade price on Zavoré materials after your course, so practice doesn't cost retail.
Every student joins a private course group, and the helpline is there for life. Message a photo mid wall and a working master answers.
Your finished panels leave with you, the start of your client portfolio.
Provided on every studio day. You're with us 10am to 5pm, and nobody trowels well hungry.
Finish your course and leave with a Zavoré certificate. One for the wall, and one for your quotes.
Every date we are running, and how many benches are still free. Seats are limited to six, and they go in the order they are booked.
Six benches to a course, never more. Materials and tools are provided on every date.
Booking online takes the full amount at checkout. To pay half now and half later, ring us on 07592 929191 and we will take the deposit over the phone and hold your bench. It cannot be done through the website, so please do call.
The balance is due on the first day, before you pick up a trowel. Pay it in person when you arrive, or ask us for a payment link and settle it beforehand, whichever suits you. If it has not been paid by the morning of the course we are not able to give you a bench.
How refunds work. Booking for your business? Book more than 14 days before your course starts and you have 7 days from our confirmation to ask for a full refund. Book within 14 days of the start and the fee is not refundable, because that bench is held for you and turned away from everyone else. Booking as a private individual? You have 14 days from our confirmation to cancel for a full refund, right up to the first morning, and after that we refund you if we fill your bench. Either way, give us 14 days’ notice and we will move your booking to another date, or pass your bench to someone else entirely, and every pound you have paid moves with it. The full detail is in our refund policy.
The first course seats six. Leave your name, your email and the course you want, and you will hear the moment the first dates are set. Nothing to pay, and nothing to commit to.
Beginner, Advanced or 1 to 1. If you are not sure which fits, call us and we will tell you straight.
Book online and pay in full, or ring us to pay half now and half on the first morning. Either way the bench is held in your name.
Plasters, primers, waxes, trowels, panels, lunch, everything is provided. Nothing to bring but yourself.
Plastering courses in Birmingham fall into two groups. General plastering, such as an NVQ, an apprenticeship or a short skim course, teaches you to board, float and set a room. Decorative plastering teaches the finishes clients choose on purpose, Venetian and polished plaster, Marmorino and metallics. The Zavoré Academy teaches the decorative side only, at the bench, with the people who install these walls for clients.
You do not need to be a qualified plasterer first. Decorators, designers, career changers and homeowners all start on the Beginner Course. If you want a general plastering qualification, take it with an accredited college and come to us for the decorative craft.
Specialist Venetian plastering courses are few in the UK, so for most people the nearest good one is worth a short journey. Birmingham sits in the middle of the country. Birmingham New Street is one of the main rail hubs, the M6, M5, M42 and M40 all reach the city, and Birmingham Airport connects to the rail network. Every course runs on back to back days, so it is a single trip, and we hold a partner rate at a hotel nearby.
None for the Beginner Course. We start at the bucket and finish at the burnish. The Advanced Course asks for the Beginner Course or site experience, and the 1 to 1 meets you exactly where you are.
Nothing but yourself. Authentic Italian plasters, primers, waxes, trowels, panels, and lunch on studio days are all provided.
Book online and payment is taken in full, which secures your bench. Would you rather pay in two halves? Ring 07592 929191 and we take half as a deposit over the phone, with the balance due on the first morning. Questions about a course? Email sales@zavore.co.uk. Courses are capped at six benches, so dates do fill.
Nothing is lost if you tell us in time. With 14 days' notice we will move your booking to another date, or transfer your bench to another person, and everything you have paid moves with it. If you would rather cancel, it depends on who is booking. For a business, you have 7 days from our confirmation to ask for a full refund if you booked more than 14 days before the course, and bookings made within 14 days of the start are not refundable. For a private individual, you have 14 days from our confirmation to cancel for a full refund, right up to the first morning, and after that we refund you if we fill your bench.
That is the point of the Academy. You leave with a certificate, trade pricing on materials, a lifetime helpline, and Advanced students get first job support. We help you find, price and win your first paid decorative job.
No. There is no NVQ for polished plaster, and the Zavoré certificate is not a formal qualification. Clients ask to see finished walls, which is why every student takes their finished panels home.
Our courses run in Birmingham, which is central and easy to reach by train or motorway from most of the UK. Each course runs on back to back days, so it is one trip, and we hold a partner rate at a hotel nearby.
Not always. Most plastering courses teach general skimming and boarding. Ours teach decorative Venetian plaster, Marmorino and metallics only, from bucket to burnish.
Every course runs in our studio, 10am to 5pm. The 1 to 1 is built entirely around you.
Students join us from across the UK and abroad. We hold a partner rate at a hotel near the studio, and airport or station pickup can be arranged when you book. Ask us for a price. It depends on which airport or station you arrive at. We will help you plan the rest.
Every Zavoré course is taught in Birmingham, and students travel in from all over the country. Find your city or region for how the training fits around life and work there, and what the local market for Venetian plaster looks like when you get home.
Not every wall needs to be your first attempt. Our team surveys, specifies and trowels across the UK.
View Our InstallationsLimewash course · Microcement course · Tadelakt course · Clay plaster course · Concrete effect plaster course · Liquid metal course · Artificial rock course · Gilding course
Every finish is taught at our training centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester, alongside our Venetian plastering courses.
Providing luxury finishes for the most prestigious addresses in the world
Venetian plaster, limewash, microcement, tadelakt, metallics, sculptural plaster and gold leaf, supplied and installed by our own team, with Venetian plaster taught at our Birmingham studio.
One list, run by the people who make the material. No noise, and nothing we would not want to read ourselves.
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