Career

Options in
Jewellery
Designing
By :Neeru Jain
It's a good time to think of jewellery
designing as a career option. Till barely 10-
15 years back, jewellery designing was
confined to a few goldsmiths. "But
nowadays things have changed”

People are very image conscious. They don't

want jewellery as a symbol of financial security
but to make a fashion statement and also as
trendswear that suits different occasions.
Career in field of Jewellery
Designer/Freelance designer : Someone who designs
jewellery through renderings and drawings, models or even wax
originals. May be employed by a company or self employed. It is
not necessary to know how to make the jewellery, just how it is
made.
 Jewellers/Exporters
There are vide opportunities to be exporter or jewellers.
Goldsmith: can work with any material, knows
construction, can work for someone else making jewellery
or for oneself; usually with a broad range of abilities.
Custom/Special Order Jeweller: Alan Revere of San
Francisco's Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts describes
this niche as ‘including both employed and self employed
people who work directly with the public or within a trade
shop. They often interact directly with customers and
create one-of-a-kind individualized work for them.
 Manufacturer: anything from small
production runs to mass production, from
service work for others to marketing one’s
own line
Artist Jeweller: Itself a wide range of options, this option is
for risk takers who like to think of themselves as artists, who
can handle independence and hard work with a long range
view of returns.
Accessory Designer: a person who designs and makes
jewellery and accessories which dove-tail to the fashion
industry, lines, colors, time of year and so on. It requires a
flair for PR , design, audience understanding and good
business sense. Materials need not be costly with very big
returns if done well. For the right person a really lucrative
career.
Crafts Jewellery Maker: A maker who markets through craft
fairs and gallery-stores, usually with a line of hand-made,
unique or low production run pieces.
Production Bench Worker: a goldsmith who specializes in
production work, anything from running a punch press, a
computer milling station (coming soon) to repetitive hand work.
Not usually high status work.

jewellery_01.jpg
Repair person: specializes in repairs. Often the best way of
starting and learning jewellery skills and the basis of many a
successful jewellery business. May be employed by a store or
have ones own service business or retail outlet.
Stonesetter: a secure employed position or a service company
for jewellery stores and goldsmiths; a good setter earns very
well and is well respected.
Store Owner/Manager: this is where the income lies highest,
at the retail end of the chain. It requires good business skills
and hard work, commitment and a great deal of money to do.
Many owners however came to this point from goldsmithing
bench jobs originally.
Caster: possibilities include employment or a service company.
Good prospects for an aggressive small company.
Gemologist/Appraiser/Astrologer: usually an employed
position, some options for independent service work. Training
and equipment costs can be high. Diamonds are a specialized
sub-section of gemology.
.
Model maker: a goldsmith specializing in making original metal
models. Often an employed position it is the highest level of
goldsmithing in many ways. Generally linked with larger
operations though often goldsmiths are called on to make
models in smaller companies. As an independent service career
it is difficult to compete with wax models
Plater: Fairly short training, an employed position. some
opportunity for independent service work. Requires good
marketing skills to find customers but demand is always
steady. Few companies outside large cities would have enough
work to employ a plater full time.
Polisher: an employed position, some find it monotonous,
others find the concentration pleasant. Some room for
independent service work in larger cities.
Production manager: well paid, requires long experience in
the trade and jobs are easier to come by.
Rubber Mold Maker: usually an employed position in a
factory, plenty of room for independent service work in small
to large cities; requires marketing skills. Some option for
mailed service work.
Teacher: the route would be through art schools and industry
experience, long training with some room for employed and
independent service work
Watchmaker: a specialized field. Most watches are now quartz
and require only minimal skills to change batteries or
movements. True watch making is dying out and this means
that for a highly motivated skilled watchmaker/goldsmith there
are very well paying opportunities
CAD Designer : coming soon and already here in some places
are computer driven machines which carve wax, build up plastic
models, harden plastic models from liquids, mill steel molds for
wax or plastics injection. All of these are intended for casting.
There will be an increasing place in the field of goldsmithing and
jewellery production for people who understand goldsmithing
and computers
Allied services sales agent: giftware, packaging, display,
security, insurance, bookkeeping etc: self explanatory, selling
to jewellery stores, subject to the vagaries of the economy.
Sales Executive: employed by jewellery stores, pay is low to
good depending upon the store and skills. A very high end store
will have the best pay opportunities. It is a good way to learn
something of the business of running a jewellery store,
particularly in a smaller business where many jobs are expected
of one
Shop manager: well paid, usually worked up through the
ranks from sales staff.
Stone Dealer: can be employed and represent a company, often
a place for independents. You have to like travel and have good
skills. Income can be very rewarding
Jewellery Designs Software Trainer:
Gems Designs Software adds user-defined gem shapes to the
interactive gem library. Select gem or diamond faceting for
realistic renders, and define several dimensions of the gem so
that related components in the piece can be modeled with greater
accuracy.
Today, jewellery designing as a career is steadily
grabbing international attention. India has
produced award-winning jewellery and accessory
designers. India, according to a consensus report, is
the largest consumer of gold, amounting to about
1/3rd to 1/4th world production and it is an ever-
growing industry.
India is the largest gems and jewellery market in
the world (the domestic market is Rs 63,000
crore), but largely in the unorganised sector with
a significant focus on gold. With the entry of big
players like Tanishq, Swarovski, DeBeers, D’-
damas, the shifting thrust on gems and stones
rather than pure gold is giving a big push to the
organised gems and jewellery industry.
ON THE back of a sizzling growth of the
organised jewellery industry, striking job
openings and exciting entry-level salaries, it’s
a fine era to consider jewellery designing as a
career preference.
THANK
YOU