Is Jewelry Design a Good Career?

Designing jewelry can truly be one of the most rewarding careers in art and fashion. There are opportunities to create pieces that will be cherished and loved by other people, and seeing your creative visions and ideas turned into a wearable piece of art is rewarding and gratifying. For many, this is all that is needed to make jewelry design a good career choice. However, for a closer look at this undeniably creative and gratifying job, we’ve listed some other considerations that might shed some more light on this question.

Why become a jewelry designer?

There are many reasons why jewelry design as a career is appealing. Aside from the satisfaction received from using your creativity to design beautiful jewelry pieces, jewelry designers can become style leaders or trend setters in the fashion world, especially when their brand takes on its own following and their pieces are sold in well-known retail stores or boutiques. In addition, established jewelry designers can earn very attractive incomes when they develop their own niche jewelry for specific and appreciative audiences who are willing to pay a tidy sum for their pieces. Furthermore, as a designer with your own business, you have the flexibility and freedom that comes with being your own boss –flexibility and freedom in your creativity, the pieces you produce, the hours you work, and even the location of your work. Finally, as an artist doing what you love, your work will always be interesting, exciting, challenging and rewarding.

What are my career options as a jewelry designer?

Jewelry designers have a number of different paths to choose from. They can design for a well-known vendor, work for small or large jewelry companies, work in jewelry repair, or work as an appraiser. After some experience under their belt, they can also go into management for jewelry design companies, or start their own business. As the owner of your own jewelry design and retail business, you can create your own designs, mass produce them, and of course sell them online and to bricks and mortar stores.

Most jewelry designers today are learning or employing someone who knows CAD to create jewelry designs. CAD lets jewelers create unique and complex pieces that cannot be created using traditional jewelry design practices. The CAD models can then be 3D printed, cast and finished and made ready for sale. They can be mass produced easily this way too. Jewelrythis’ Producethis service is perfect for this stage of your design process.

What if I want to sell independently? Where can I sell my pieces? How do I develop my brand and boost my presence locally?

Selling your jewelry designs won’t happen overnight, but with today’s technology, growing a viable jewelry design business is more attainable than ever before. This is largely due to the digital landscape, which can be used to boost your exposure and brand your designs. For a deeper discussion on this topic, feel free to browse our article on using social media to boost your sales. We also have a helpful post with tips for getting your business started. Technology can also help you with the production process; Jewelrythis has all the design and production services you need to get your jewelry design business started.

What if I have beautiful ideas and visions for jewelry pieces, but don’t know how to sketch professionally or use CAD software? How can I turn these ideas into wearable jewelry?

One option is to hire someone who can do this for you, but another option is to use our Designthis service. You don’t need a professional sketch or CAD file – all you need is a photo or even a basic sketch with your description of what you want. We can take it from there and create your jewelry vision.

Example of a sketch to finish jewelry design

What if I experience the jewelry designer’s version of ‘writer’s block’? Where do I find inspiration for new designs?

This is a good question and a frequent one. We address it thoroughly in our blog “7 Ways to Find Jewelry Design Ideas and Inspiration”.