If a consumer is educated and realizes that jewelry is actually
handmade by a goldsmith, silversmith or otherwise a metalsmith or art
jeweler, and jewellery is available outside of chain retailers, mall
vendors and beyond the myriad cookie cutter designs available from
most “jewelery stores” that simply buy a lot of similar styles and
pop a stone into a pre-fabricated ( most often cast by the hundreds
on what is called a ‘tree’) setting- poorly at that- then yes, those
astute buyers will seek high end designer jewelery or have pieces
commissioned specifically for their purposes- gift giving, heirlooms
or personal adornment…
the difference in handmade jewellery and the mass produced low karat,
poorly crafted/designed garbage available from retailers (or rather
finished- as most stores “bench jewelers” simply polish pre-fab
settings and if one is lucky, can find a store that has someone
experienced enough to size rings, etc. and set a stone properly,
particularly beyond a round brilliant diamond) is it takes an artist
to design a piece incorporating not only the range of materials at
his or her disposal but then constructing it soundly -not only making
the piece interesting, desirable and saleable but having
characteristic elements that become one’s signature style. In the
jewellery market, being able to identify a piece’s maker by simply
observing it is the mark of a good craftsperson - one doesn’t need to
look at the maker’s mark, assay mark etc. A jeweler’s passion is
noticeable in the designs and collections he or she manufactures in
the studio. One can observe the materials used and how they are put
together or fabricated and be sure they are getting original one-off
work that is of the highest quality the artisan can produce.
Jeweler’s are recognized by their marks which are static worldwide,
but more so their design abilities and the marriage of materials
(the stones, metals, and construction) selected that confirm one is
purchasing an original piece by “x’ jeweler. The term jeweller is a
bit too constrained as the proliferation of stores that can order
semi-mounts, ring shanks with pre-drilled setting places, and other
ready-to-wear mass market intended items generally marked up 2.5 up
to 3.5 times the cost and that looks like the merchandise every
other store or chain vendor sells does not make the store’s owner a
jeweler- it is the ability to fabricate a piece from an original
concept and design with a set of skills that allow for a buyer to
translate his or her ideas to the craftsman and receive a unique one
of a kind piece of jewellery that is exactly what they had wished
for that make a jeweler, or more precisely a goldsmith (meaning one
who can use precious metals, or any metal at one’s disposal in the
fabrication of jewelry) or art jeweler. the term is used far too
loosely given the current state of the jewellery industry. For
instance, down the street from my studios is a mid-size jewelery
store that will not sell coloured stones, buys pre-fabricated lots
of anonymously designed and mass cast items and sets them with
diamonds according to the size of the settings that come on the
piece, whether a ring, pendant, or earrings. they also polish the
pieces and remove any burrs left over from the casting process and
any sprue marks that may have been missed when the vendor they buy
from mass finishes the lot in a tumbler. In my opinion they are not
"jeweler’s”.In this state a store must have 7 types of security to be
called a Jewellery store and become eligible to be licensed and
insured as such- that does not mean any single person in the shop can
make a ring from a length of gold or silver raw material (i. e. - a
shaped wire or more to the point, by forging an ingot of a karat gold
in a colour the craftsman may make from scrap or casting grain and
other metals into a usable piece of stock that can then be used to
draw down into wires, shaped wire or sheets with which to make a
variety of stock materials for use in jewelry designs), not to
mention the alternative alloys, speciality metals and metal processes
(like mokume gane or Damascus that are used by actual designer
maker’s with the skills to fabricate anything by hand from start to
finish. In my mind they should not be called Jeweler’s at all. Most
often these retailers send out any sizing, stone replacements, etc
not having the skills, artisan in their employ nor stock to be able
to do even a simple sizing job, much less changing a stone out to a
customer’s specification or desire. Just about every studio jeweller
I know has a large inventory of stones and metals from which to
choose, as well the skills and equipment to make what they need in a
matter of hours. No work is sent out unless, perhaps plating or in
some cases a production run of cast pieces if required, or
commissioned and it is cost effective to have a model (or master)
design cast by a specialist for a number of pieces of the same
design. Retailers may even buy cast-in-place items to resell- this
means the stones are actually set into the reproduced models then
cast in a “tree” to make, say 200 identical pieces, be they rings,
pendants, etc. Where is the jeweler in this process?Often it is the
person in some factory that remains unnamed and cranks out wax models
for the retail trade. Wal-Mart is the largest seller of gold jewelery
in the USA- that should tell you something!! How many of those
customers realise that for the same 1500 dollars they can have a
piece made for them by a professional jeweler/ metalsmith. with
higher quality materials and that will, no doubt, fit their exact
taste and sensibilities and perhaps with a symbolism, that may be
idiosyncratic but means something to the buyer- as “said” in stones,
or in the design and fabricated entirely by the same hand from start
with raw materials to end, with the finish and texture wanted. The
majority of the masses that buy at retailers don’t realize there are
studio jewelers that do far better work, or they believe the work may
be higher cost than what they can get at an “x” mart. Advertising by
the larger Jewelery Trade plays a big part in this mythology- they
advertise a certain style on TV and it becomes a fad for a year,
until the next big sales event comes 'round in a year. small studios
have far less budget for advertising and unless they want to travel
to major merchant market events (at which a large number of buyers
for niche market stores or boutiques go to the venue with the express
intention of buying inventory for a year’s worth of sales) which can
be expensive, particularly if out of one’s region and if one is an
emerging artist/jeweler/metalsmith. Locally, one is left to
advertising in newspapers, and building their brand through
word-of-mouth, winning awards, and promotional activities that can’t
compare to the budget chain stores have to market the mass produced
stuff to the public. Buyers that seek art jewelery and one-off pieces
are the minority of consumers, but they drive the small studio and
often ally with certain designers that meet their sensibilities,
design tastes and customer base with reasonable price points that
they know they can sell. while it is a business, small studio
jeweler’s are driven by a passion wholly lacking in large retail
jewellery stores bent on selling a quantity rather than the quality
one finds in a small studio’s offerings and in finding a studio
jeweller that can work with a person to deliver exactly what one
wants… rer