We are living in a world where design is highly appreciated, and luxury goods are attainable for a great number of consumers. Why is it then that jewellery designers, a group who should be at the forefront of fashion, are content to churn out the same designs year after year?
Any jeweller who wants to prosper and build an appreciative clientele needs to be original, distinctive, and to offer something from their own life and personality.
People associate jewellery with personal experiences. They want to walk into a store and find that the range on offer is unique and different, like they are; however, many stores nowadays lack a sense of “wonder” and luxury – customers seldom see anything new.
The role of jewellery is to be a beautiful and enduring symbol of love. Without magic, charm and originality, it has little to offer.
I fell in love with the notion of making jewellery at a young age. I avidly read books on historical jewellery, medieval architecture, and nature and visited many jewellery stores to get a better idea of what the field was like.
A few high quality design-based stores were a delight to see and, on the whole, these businesses have flourished domestically. Many of these Australian designers have used their vision and originality to go from strength to strength, even competing and succeeding in challenging international markets.
Unfortunately though, too many jewellery stores seemed to have virtually identical stock, with little to distinguish them. It is hardly surprising that these kinds of shops have been struggling since the 1990s, and that many are gradually winding down.
If customers keep on seeing the same designs in many shops, they start choosing the store with the cheapest price. Jewellery, which should be something precious, ends up becoming a commodity.
Many jewellery retailers and designers seem to have been caught in this trap, stocking the same merchandise as everyone else, or failing to experiment with their designs. In doing so, they fail to create something unique.
To enable the jewellery industry to flourish, we need more unique design that comes direct from the heart. Every copied design takes us back a step, but every new inspiration takes us forward.
The world around us offers a multitude of potential aesthetic inspirations. For example, let’s say your weekend passion is sailing. Take a close look at the rigging, the life rings and the anchors, then think about how these shapes and textures can be translated into a man’s wedding ring. It’s so simple to open your eyes and develop something new, yet so many jewellery designers seem incapable of doing it.
We are living in an amazing time for new design. The wealth of ideas we can access and the tools we can use to make these ideas into reality are unprecedented in human history. Instead of using Google Images to copy existing designs, use it to spark your creativity. You can find hundreds of images relevant to any themes you want to develop and no one will ever create the same pieces if the sources are diverse.
Ideally, if you are working on nature themes, spend some time in the environment they are found, thus giving your work greater subtlety and understanding.
Other tools that are extremely useful for the modern jewellery designer include Creative Suite 3 and other CAD programs. Far from being short cuts, these new technologies can definitely lead to more sophisticated designs.
The power of new technologies cuts two ways: anyone can easily copy any design they can find, but our ideas can also soar to new heights and readily flow to new markets beyond our shores.
We are all short of time, and it’s easy to relegate less urgent priorities to the back burner, yet one of the most important things you can do for your business is to make time to play with ideas, to search for inspiration, and to crystallise your creative visions into a shining reality.
I believe in Australian design. I see so much around me across all the domains of design that is original and world-class.
Always remember that we work in one of the most beautiful fields there is, and that the potential of Australian jewellery is extraordinary as long as we choose to make it so.