Hello, I’ve been approached by a few jewelry manufacturing companies
looking to hire me on a longterm freelance basis, instead of my usual
project basis. Does anyone have experience and input regarding
pricing and/or structure? Is there a good source for consulting
contract forms? I’ve already contacted my attorney. Thank you for
whatever knowledge you are comfortable sharing.
Amy
Be Very careful with contracts as far as "large jewelry"
manufacturers go… Many of them do not honor their contracts one bit.
I have been involved with a number of larger companies over the years
and have found that in many cases, the owners realize that if they
break a contract with a designer, that in most cases, the designer
will not sue them. Make sure that whatever contract you and your
lawyer agree to, the lawyer would be willing to go to court on your
behalf without cost to you. I have seen companies make agreements and
the designer go nuts designing many new lines of jewelry that don’t
get produced initially, then after 6 months lay the designer off,Then
after they are out of the premises, they begin producing their designs
and it begins to get very difficult to know what they are selling and
not telling you.This is important when the contract refers to
commision fees thjat you may be entitled to . Now, you have to hire an
accountant to check their books and they can still hide quite a bit of
the sales from the accountant by having the sales go through a D.
(doing) B. (business) A (as) ( this was for the foreigners on the list
who would not know what DBA stands for). Try and find out what
designers worked for them in the past and ask them how they were
treated while they were there and after they left… Also try to find
out why they left? I have a number of designs with a few large
corporations and I usually have to call them every month to try and
collect my design commissions.
Daniel Grandi