How to become a jewelry designer?

I believe every person on this planet is blessed with various skills and talent and when he is able to passionately use his skills for making a living it seems like a blessing in disguise. In this context, I have an interesting topic about one such industry to share with you.

Designing industry

As you all know this industry is a huge platform for all idea generation used to create a whole market and run a business. This industry is where creativity and technology meet, and where innovation thrives. Design is absolutely everywhere from the jewelry we wear to the clothes we use, from the cars we drive to the chairs we sit on, from the food we eat to the applications we use. As a designer, you have the power to bring imagination into life.

In the recent years, luxury jewelry designing in India has gained immense popularity and attention from the youth; this brings us to our topic of discussion for today. Let us understand the meaning and significance of Jewelry designers and how to become a luxury jewelry designer.

Most of us here would know that jewelry designing  is all about working on  a piece of jewelry or  bringing in pieces of jewels together to create a design, but what we don't understand is what it takes to become a jewelry designer. It is the ability to imagine a design and create a masterpiece by analyzing the type of metals or stones to be used and placing it in the right spot to make it a whole product. As easy as it sounds, the judgment and analytics to create that piece requires skills and huge efforts. Designers can create the design entirely by hand or they can commence the process by utilizing computer-availed design (CAD) software.

How to become a luxury Jewelry designer?

A Luxury jewelry designer is trained in a way that he/ she has architectural and functional knowledge of different material, its composition, all the fabrication techniques, wear ability as well as its utility and most importantly the knowledge and understanding of the market trends. So before you start off the journey, you first need to analyze and understand your interest and ability to create a design as it is vital for one to have a strong basic knowledge on the subject.

After which to sharpen your skills, it is very important for you to learn the fundamentals of casting shapes and analyzing stone in sculpture, metalwork and soldering. The art of jewelry design is developed through courses in jewelry sculpture, costume jewelry, gemology and fashion history. While getting trained you have to also learn about its history and significance in the market. One needs to have an understanding of how luxury jewelry intertwined the relationship between personal stories of people, with luxury and traditional craftsmanship, and any aspiring designer needs to know how to handle artistic, technical and commercial skills.  For learning jewellery designing there are many training centers, schools and universities in India as well as foreign where one can enroll them into to master the art.

Find a few places from where you can Learn Jewelry designing:

• ARCH Academy of Design, Jaipur
• Indian Institute of Jewelry, Mumbai
• Gemological Institute of India, Mumbai
• IMS-Design & Innovation Academy, Noida
• Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore
• Indian Institute of Gems and Jewelry, Delhi and Mumbai
• Pearl Academy of Fashion, Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and Noida
• Rochester Institute of Technology in New York
• Institute Lorenzo De Medici – The LDM School of Design in Italy
• Birmingham City University in England.
• GIA Jewelry Design
• Goyam Diamond Institute Private Limited
• Jewellers Academy (jewellersacademy.com)

Istituto Marangoni also offers design courses, post graduate, master programs in fine-jewellery design.

Another way to learn Fine jewellery design is to refer to the various jewelry desiging courses that are available online:

Some of the famous jewelry designers who teach jewelry designing online as well as otherwise include:

• Aleksander Chuly
• Joan Codina
• Emerson Porto
• Omar Shritah
• Ivan Vuzem
• Modnitsa Atelier
• Professor John Ahr
• Hamed Arab

The most important thing one needs to have in order to learn and grow in this field is the determination and willingness to learn and upgrade oneself constantly.

To master the art of jewelry designing, it is safe and important to invest time in you by getting trained via a professional and to get equipped with the tools required. Once you learn and understand how to create a design and what to keep in mind while designing, it becomes essential to put your knowledge into practical application regularly.

In addition to gaining knowledge on the creative and technical sides of jewelry making, these aspiring  jewelry designers must also become familiar with industry standards, markets and business practices, such as diamond and precious stone grading, base pricing, market analysis, production costs, selling costs and so on. With proper education, training and practise one can accomplish the desire and need of their customers.

Luxury jewelry is usually seen as an asset, they are made with high quality metals like platinum, gold or silver and precious stones like diamond, ruby or painite. The values of these kinds of jewelry are high and are expensive in nature. In India, there is a lot of demand for such jewelry and their designers especially for their weddings. One expects the best suited design for themselves as the occasion for most is a once in a lifetime moment. At present, there are a number of designers in the market competing with one another to serve the best in the market. 

The increases in availability of many artists, jewelry designers are often freelance workers and continually seek assignments or customers in this competitive market.

A luxury jewelry designer is not confined to an office, he can work from anywhere he wants too or freelance sitting at home as long as he gets inspired to imagine and create a jewelry that overwhelms his client.

For jewelry designers, creating or designing gives them the freedom to express their thoughts creatively, share their work with pride for the world to enjoy.

It is also important to note that for every designer, creating their own portfolio is a must. The portfolio must talk on behalf of them about their personality, the kind of designs one has worked on, their previous professional experiences and qualifications as it helps the client to connect with the designer which in return helps the designer to understand what kind of design the customer is truly looking for. For every designer it becomes important to build a relationship with the client to understand his personality, taste and sense of choice which gives him the direction to customize a design as per his wants.

In order to gain attention, Jewelry designers can enter various competitions held that help them to gain industry exposure and analyze popular designs that are in demand. Jewelry design competitions, like the American Jewelry Design Council New Talent Competition, are held annually and are judged by leading designers. These professional competitions offer participants an opportunity to network with valuable industry connections and influencers that can increase their potential sales.

In luxury jewelry design along with using high end metals and stones, the clients also seek for perfection in terms of the design and its structure in return for the expense they make. The touch of royalty and elegance is what one looks for before making the purchase. A lot of designers today are taking inspiration from the jewelry designs made for the kings and queens in the ancient times which have surprisingly become a trend in the market today.

It is a blessing to have a skill that can help you build your career, Jewelry being a huge market in India is inspiring many artists and designers by giving them the opportunity to express their work and grow. Just like clothing, jewelry has become one of the basic necessities for mankind. In India, wearing jewelry is a sense of pride for both men and women. For some women it is a sign of being married, while for others jewelry is worn to uplift their status. In every sense, jewelry design is one of the most popular and fastest growing industries. Jewelry making is an art in itself, from playing with the most precious metals and stones and bringing life into them to market and selling them relies in the hands of its designers, making it one of the most luxurious industries worldwide.