The Rantings of an Unamused Jewelry Designer

"My mom makes jewelry."

That's what a guy said to me when I showed him the newest project I'd been working on. Never mind that she doesn't offer what I do. Never mind that the statement he made had nothing to do with what I was showing him at the time. I can honestly say that I don't have the desire to get to know everyone who does jewelry. Just because two people make jewelry does not mean that they are going to automatically click.

If I sound a little irritated, it's because the general perception is that everyone who makes jewelry should be lumped in together - that jewelry making is just a cute li'l ol' hobby and that jewelry is a commodity, meaning that it's practically worthless because you can get it any where and dirt-cheap.

That perception makes it necessary to educate your customers, if they'll stand still long enough to ingest the information you need to share with them. We live in an instant gratification society among people with very short attention spans.

Additionally, since there are abundances of jewelry classes - even online, bead shops, and bead magazines, everyone seems to have gotten on the bandwagon of making jewelry and selling it. There are large numbers of people who are content to copy simple designs, perhaps using different beads from the ones used in the picture, and then sell them as their own work, even labeling themselves jewelry artists during this process. I have seen so much unimaginative work that I am starting to feel bad for the true artists out there who put their heart and soul into their jewelry designs.

For me, designing has been a passion since I was a child whether it was designing new clothes for my Barbie, creating jewelry designs in metal shop class or designing clothing for myself when I was a teenager. And, if you care to look, you can see the passion in the work I do. You can see that my aim is to create against the trends. However, the trend in society is to be, look like, act like everyone else, and that's not what I stand for. And I definitely do not want to be lumped in with everyone else.

Let's face it. Not all jewelry is just alike. Some pieces are obviously original designs. Some pieces are works of art. Some pieces are high quality. Unfortunately, there's a lot of junk out there, and it's up to the artisans to inform the public.