Jewelry design is a very rewarding career. However, there are various steps to take to get the full benefits of a jewelry designer. Therefore, you need to understand what jewelry designers do and the skills needed to become one. Just like any other job, jewelry design requires training. There is a lot to learn in this field before you can get started with work.
The job of a jewelry designing is to plan and create patterns for products such as engagement rings, bracelets, and other jewelry pieces. Therefore, a jewellery designer generates product prototypes and tests them for style, comfort, and durability. With these skills, you can work in jewelry stores, manufacturing shops, design workshops, and studios, and so on.
What does a Jewelry Designer Do?
A jewelry designer does an important job in making jewelry. However, their work varies based on their work environment. Sometimes, their work may involve reproducing similar products as asked by a customer. On other occasions, a jewelry designer will have to interpret customer’s ideas into a jewelry product. Therefore, the designer’s job depends on what the customer wants in making customer products.
Even with the change in the designer’s roles based on where they work, a designer’s daily work includes the following:
- Drawing jewerly designs on paper or doing computer-aided designs (CAD)
- Evaluating prototypes and improving them
- Using wax models to make product pieces in metal
- Quality assessment and selection of jewelry metals and gemstones
- Smoothing metal and polishing it for comfort
- Reshaping metal and securing all jewelry attachments
- Jewelry cleaning in preparation for distribution
In jewelry startups, the designers may do jewelry manufacturing work. However, they do the design work and oversee production in large companies.
What you need to become a Jewelry Designer!
If you are interested in becoming a jewelry designer, you should have certain skills that will help you excel in your career. Here is what you need:
1. Get a bachelor’s Degree
You may not necessarily need a degree, but it is a good addition to your skillset for jewelry design. There are various options to consider, including gemology and jewelry design or any other relevant course.
Education is important since you will learn how to use advanced equipment and software for your designs. Additionally, you will get basic skills to develop towards a leadership and management role in the jewelry industry.
2. Study Jewelry Design Skills
In the course of learning, focus on jewelry design. Learn as much as you can even by taking online courses and attending workshops for further training. The more you learn the better you become at your skill. There is no end to learning.
A good designer understands almost every aspect of their trade. Therefore, you should put more effort into learning the design work and the materials used in jewelry manufacturing. For that reason, study things like metal care and manufacturing, mold making, business management, and machine operations such as in 3D printing and so on.
3. Be Creative
A jewelry designer should be creative enough to turn customer dreams into reality. Part of your work will involve translating theoretical customer ideas into jewelry products. You must demonstrate proven skills in developing plans for new products. Additionally, you must use gems and materials to create prototypes and improve final quality production.
4. Be careful with details
Customer feedback and preferences are critical, especially in the jewelry industry. There are very fine details to look at and implement. Therefore, paying attention to details will be a rewarding trait to a jewelry designer.
Most importantly, jewelry designers should work towards simplifying designs to enhance production. This ability is evident in how designers pick materials and pair them to please the customer.
5. Develop your Problem-Solving Skills
Jewelry customers are looking for solutions. They have ideas but do not know how to execute them. Therefore, the work of a jewelry designer is to solve these complex ideas and create attractive products.
A jewelry designer should create products that cater to the needs of the customers. Most importantly, it would help if you did this while keeping high-quality standards. Therefore, innovativeness and creativity are vital to this skill and ability.
6. Develop Strong communication skills
A good designer should demonstrate good verbal and non-verbal communication skills. You should be able to listen carefully and communicate with your customers effectively. You can do this by word of mouth or through customers’ work.
A jewelry designer should successfully work with other people include the customers, to remain productive.
7. Have a good knowledge of Modern Technology
Technology continues to change our way of doing things. Therefore, jewelry designers must be knowledgeable enough about the latest trends in technology. Learn how to use dedicated programs for efficient and faster delivery on jewelry design and production. Moreover, rapid prototyping technologies such as 3D printing are a lot helpful to your career.
How to establish yourself in Jewelry Design
After getting the necessary skills and training in jewelry design, it is time to get yourself in the industry. Here is what you need to do to establish yourself as a jewelry designer:
- Look for experience in the industry. Go for internships and look for entry-level jobs primarily to gain experience and not to earn. Learn the various aspects of design, production, management, and jewelry manufacturing.
- Create your design portfolio to gain a competitive edge in your future job applications. Prepare photos and other documentation of your work to display to prospective employers or business partners.
- Continue learning to grow your knowledge in jewelry and related fields such as design, metal care, and gemology, and so on.
- Network with other people in this profession. This will help you exchange ideas with other designers and even accelerate your efforts to get a job.
Final Advice
You can become a good jewelry designer if this is your passion. There is no limit to what you can achieve with your talent and skills in the field. All you need is to acquire the skills and training required for a successful career in jewelry design. Most importantly, keep improving yourself by learning and networking with other jewelry designers.