JEWELLERY DESIGN: A SHAPE TO YOUR CREATIVE FLAIR!

Ms. Neeru Jain HOD & Asstt. Professor Dept of Jewellery designing The IIS uni ersity!Jaipur

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. b!t nowadays things ha"e changed# $eople are "ery image conscio!s. They don't want jewellery as a symbol of financial sec!rity b!t to make a fashion statement and also as trends wear that s!its different occasions. %ewellery worldwide has e"ol"ed o"er h!ndreds of years and has a past so rich, it is diffic!lt to e"al!ate its prof!ndity or intricacies as a s!bject. &hile the east boasts of rich, e'otic jewellery, the west has gi"en classic and inno"ati"e jewellery. Today, we stand at the threshold of the new and

!nknown wherein, the new will definitely deri"e inspiration from the past and the known (ne of the major trends today is the confl!ence of the east and west. In the desire to the different, we see e"erybody aro!nd !s grasping and combining anything they can lay their hands on, the res!lt being conf!sion. It is easy to create e'otic jewellery if we remember the concepts of designing. )ifferent techni*!es of decoration are !sed on gold to gi"e added "al!e to the design. $iercing+c!twork+openwork gi"es different look to %ewellery and d!ring this process area in the metal is c!t o!t to create an openwork effect this gi"es a

design element and makes the piece lightweight. ,nameling, -iligree, hammering, te't!ring, chasing, all can add a lot of meaning. )esign cannot be pro"ed that it is good or not b!t it can be sensed, felt and modeled or sim!lated and tested thro!gh that ro!te. )esign is an act of faith and a matter of j!dgment. -aith by itself is not a bad thing if we can s!pport it with e'perience in the real world and from o!r imagination of what can be achie"ed and what needs to be achie"ed. .owe"er, design tho!ght comes in the first category, faith based on e'perimental insights and on informed intentions. The depth of design, the fall and the right placement of stones are factors often neglected.,

/nother point to notice is that s!rprisingly, theme based jewellery is not attracting m!ch attention. It is time designers came of their own and la!nched e'perimental collections with new concepts. The ideal sit!ation wo!ld be if all jewellers co!ld dedicate a section of their showrooms to new, e'perimental jewellery, and enco!rage new talents and ideas whether from craftsmen or designers. To work on a partic!lar concepts designer sho!ld collect images and styles to show how their creation will look. )esigner can apply a concept

to yo!r entire collection of different concepts can be !sed for to different occasion or collection. 0till designers are working on theme based designing beca!se 1reating a theme is easy, and they can make any design into a theme within min!tes. 0ome themes recently !sed by designers are 2a jo!rney thro!gh colo!rs, )ancing $eacock, a!t!mn, ,thno 1ontemporary.

%ewellery in ancient era was an art from and had a deep significance. The people considered gold the abode of god or goddess, while sil"er had an association with the moon. The form of ornaments

re"ealed stat!s and position b!t today, jewellery has been relegated to an object. &e m!st preser"e o!r tradition. Tho!gh a lot of o!r present jewellery retains from which are ancient, we do not know their importance.

There is not m!ch attention being paid to the st!dy of jewellery. There are "ery few books and maga3ines a"ailable on %ewellery, a s!bject so close to the heart of all aro!nd world. There sho!ld be more schools which ho!ses a m!se!m and research centre dedicated to this st!dy, it e"ol"ement o"er the cent!ries and, to the de"elopment of modern forms and techni*!es.

It can then p!blish research papers and interacti"e jo!rnals. /ll prominent jewelers, craftsmen and designers co!ld come forward to aid in this mammoth task. 4esides jewellery ind!stry inno"ati"e design action, we can look forward to new initiati"es in the social and p!blic space if the real benefits of design are to reach the p!blic at large /nother iss!e of concern is hallmarking. It is "ery important for the

go"ernment to inter"ene and bring abo!t standardi3ation in le"els of gold p!rity beca!se it is a growing iss!e of concern to all cons!mers. The tr!st in jewelers is somehow misplaced and in !ncertainty, people go showroom hopping. The importance of the family jeweler seems to be diminishing. (ne of the other reasons for this trend is design h!nting. )esign is gaining prominence. .ence, as an ind!stry, we need to pay more importance. This can only happen if we are able to take the !nderstanding of design and layer it with a new strategy of inno"ation that can be set in motion in a cooperati"e framework going forward. %ewellery )esign schools ha"e a role to play in shaping these frameworks and m!ch of the initial e'plorations that are needed by society can happen within the classrooms of the f!t!re and these in t!rn will help !s b!ild scenarios that will be moderated by the comm!nity to act!ally b!ild a desirable f!t!re for %ewellery ind!stry.

jewellery also need to be designed and with the growing reali3ation of the "al!e of differentiation thro!gh branding the sector has opened !p new opport!nities for the "is!al merchandising skills and graphic design in the retail space as well as in the print and web based promotional materials. /ll these applications wo!ld need an !nderstanding of the !ni*!e needs of the high "al!e jewellery marketing sector and proced!res that co!ld be incorporated at the point of sale as well as in the man!fact!ring sit!ations.

To bring re"al!ation we sho!ld make international *!ality ethnic jewellery, 5 create a new stream of inno"ati"e, contemporary jewellery, both for the domestic and international markets. &hile we make inroads with new jewellery, we can work on creating a niche for o!r ethnic section in the same international markets. 0ooner or later, we will achie"e it.