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/ExportersThere 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.

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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