Example of a Job Listing for Jewelry Designers

For a Jewelry Designer, design activities include:

Talking and learning what the customer want

Discussing the customer's main ideas and creating an original design of jewelry;

Drawing out ideas using pen and paper or using computer-aided design (CAD), to help the customer see how the finished jewelry will look like.

Decide the price and materials that will be used to make the jewelry.

Lastly, the Jewelry Designer will make the piece or a few pieces of jewelry for the customer.

What does a typical day, week and year look like?

Career Description

Many jewelry designers have to work for a company and make designs for a line of jewelry. Jewelry designers can also make special pieces for an independent jeweler which nobody seen before. Most jewelry designers use computer-aided design (CAD) software to draw 2 or 3-D pictures of their designs to see if the design can be made, and check if the jewels will look nice. The software is very good when working with customer, as designers can show customer the design of the jewelry on the computer, and make changes in front of customer to let them know how their jewelry look like, before the jewelry is make.

Some jewelry designers work for themself and make their own jewelry, not work for other people company. This need extra business knowledge such as marketing of products, accounts, and finding clients. This type of jewelry normally can sold at galleries, art fairs and retail stores.

Jewelry

Designer

Example taken from a job-search website with "Job Description", "Roles and Responsibilities", and "Job Requirements".

Salary and duties associated with the position

Salary:

The global salary for Jewelry Designer can have very big difference from low pay to high pay, with U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reporting in May 2011 that the average salary for people who work with jewelry industry is about US$34,000 for one year earning, and most people will earned from US$19,000 to US$62,000. According to BLS, employment of Jewelry Designer and Jewelry Maker is going to become less by five percent between 2010 and 2020, and own self designers can face many difficult competition, because many people becoming Jewelry Designer.

Duties associated with being a jewelry designer include:

Jewelry Designer need to study, design and prepare new and special jewelry ideas using drawings. They will also need to change and update jewelry designs for accuracy from start to end for customer's approval. This need to also follow customer's budget and cost, cannot be too expensive or too cheap. Jewelry designers also need to know how to make jewelry from design school, and know how to use metals, gemstones, and other jewelry things.

Jewelry Designers also need to create a selling price for their jewelry after they finish making it, based on the price of the metals and gemstones used. They also need to know what is the latest fashion for jewelry, and buy the correct products and materials to follow fashion trend and make fashionable jewelry. Jewelry Designer also need to have good color matching and fashion sense to make new jewelry ideas which nobody think before.

Lastly, Jewelry Designer need to know how to work according to time and make finish the jewelry in time for the new season trends. Jewelry Designer also must be creative and know how to present their ideas according to what they want or what the company want.

Making activities include:

Mounting - preparing the metals and gemstones to be used to make the jewelry;

Casting - making a jewelry or accessory using a mould;

Stamping - press a design into hot metal;

Chasing - making a pattern top of the jewelry metal;

Soldering - sticking two metal piece together;

Polishing - making sure the jewelry is clean and shiny.

Special steps used in jewelry making that a Jewelry Designer does not do:

Stone setting - making very small changes to the jewelry to make sure the gemstones fit perfectly, like removing some metals;

Electro-plating - using electricity to stick a precious metal onto a cheaper metal like stick silver on top of a copper ring;

Enameling - glue colourful glass powder to metal in a special oven to make colourful designs;

Welding - joining pieces of metal using heat or laser;

Engraving - using sharp thing to scratch words or patterns into metals by hand or by computer.

Note:

Other than making jewelry, Jewelry Designers also need to grow their business and become more famous by talking and becoming friends with other important people, join competitions, and attend craft fairs to show the jewelry they make before. Other activities that Jewelry Designer need to do is work with galleries to show and sell their jewelry, work with store buyers and suppliers, and learn more about jewelry and fashion trends and attend fashion shows.

Qualifications

Most Jewelry Designers don't have college degree or special qualification, but some Jewelry Designer have bachelor's or master's degrees in fine arts or jewelry design.

The normal way to become a Jewelry Designer is through apprenticeships and on-the-job training, where a more older Jewelry Designer will teach the new one how to do things. A new designer can also just look at more experience designers and learn on their own, without people teach them.

However, because now everything need to use computer, so many young Jewelry Designers will need to learn how to use the different type of CAD software programs that are normally used like Photoshop and all the other thing that was shown in the example picture.

Also, for Jewelry Designers who make their own business, they will need certificate in many business thing like business administration, marketing, merchandising, buying and so on.

The importance of oral communication, job task planning and organizing, and problem solving :

Oral Communication

Because Jewelry Designer need to work with customers or employers to design pieces, communications skills are needed to make sure the customer, boss and designer is all happy. Therefore, Jewelry Designers may want to take course in communication and public speaking.

Job task planning and organizing

Jewelry Designer also need to be good at organise time and meet deadline, because one line of jewelry will need many different pieces of jewelry inside it. Also, designers are creative people who follow the latest fashion and jewelry trends, so they will need to attend many events to keep up to date with trends, needing extra time from the job. So it is important for jewelry designers to know how to manage their time and finish their projects and attend events.

Problem solving

In jewelling, every gemstone is different and have its own problems and flaws, hence jewelry designers need to know how to plan and work with problems and unexpected outcomes. Customers may also change their designs or requests last minute, and it will affect the whole jewelry making. Hence, Jewelry Designers will need to be able to manage difficult people and apply problem-solving skills.

The importance of Reliability as a work habit :

Reliability

Jewelry designers need to be reliable people as their job is based on reputation, which is base on trust. If a person is not reliable, it is difficult for customers to trust the person, then he will not do well at his job. Also, because jewelry designers work with valuable materials like gold and silver and gemstones, so they must be honest and good people so that their company and customer can trust them to be honest and make good jewelry.

Education

Different universities, colleges, or organizations that offer degree, diploma, certificate, or apprenticeship programs for this career path

Most Jewelry Designers learned their skills through on-the-job training and apprenticeships. Training usually focuses on learning new skill like engraving, casting, setting stones and making models. But due to increasing use of computer, more students are interesting in training in CAD. So school teach classes in CAD like in college, and some employers will give training for staff also. Some schools offer training programs special for Jewelry Designer. These programs include maths, shop theory, jewelry making, blueprint reading, repair skills and types of tools . Some art schools also offer bachelor or master degrees in Jewelry Making. All this advanced degree are not needed to be Jewelry Designer, but most employer prefer workers with a degree or some background in jewelry, since they willl need less training in the future. Jewelry Designer with college education also get employ more easily and sometimes higher pay.

List of routes for this career path:

1. Jewelry Design Schools

2. Fashion Institutes

3. Online Jewelry Design Programs

4. Apprenticeship programs

Examples of Schools that offer a program on Jewelry Design:

Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design

Sanford-Brown

Temple University

University of Oregon

Northern Arizona University

University of Michigan

The University of Texas

Ferris State University

University of North Texas

University of Washington

Rochester Institute of Technology

Savannah College of Art and Design

Education

Comparison of two universities:

Savannah College of

Art and Design (US)

Cost of the program :

US $33,795 per year

Program length :

3 years

Academic calendar :

School webpage

Qualifications needed :

1. A diploma from a U.S. high school

or equivalent program.

2. Official report of SAT or ACT scores

for citizens and permanent residents of U.S.

3. Evidence of English proficiency for

students whose first language

is not English.

Silversmithing and Jewellery

Making by Stafford College (UK)

Cost of the program :

£81.00

Program length :

10 weeks

Academic calendar :

not mentioned

Qualifications needed :

1. A minimum of 4 GCSEs at grade C or above,

including an art subject and English.

OR Level 2 Diploma in a related subject.

2. Demonstrate practical skills and provide a

satisfactory reference.

3. Mature student with relevant

experience.

Support Groups

Groups and programs that are available to support students in the technological design industry :

Jewelers of America offers certification for jeweler called the "Jewelers of America Bench Professional Certification Program". They also have online jewelry designing skills certification test that exam for important concept, skills and knowledge for Jewelry Design, to see if Jewelry Designer really know what they are doing.

Jewelers of America is the oldest and best professional association for jewelers. Its goal is to increase consumer confidence for jewelry and promote good business practices, professionalism and high standards. It gives certification and scholarship to its members.

Another association is the Women’s Jewelry Association. It helps for women in the jewelry and watch industry, and give members networking opportunities to meet important people, training, competitions, scholarships to study college and recognition programs.

There is also The American Society of Jewelry Historians for people who interest in history of jewelry. This one is a non-profit organization which will teach on jewelry history, culture of jewelry, jewelry design and collecting. Anyone interested can become a member.

In the United Kingdom, they will also help give contact and help make strong relationship in the industry for Jewelry Designer, through one-by-one networking or join trade guilds and professional associations, such as the British Jewellers’ Association (BJA) UK, and is a important step to success.

Jewelry Designers can also improve their skills and ability by learning special postgraduate courses that are offered by many education and commercial institutions, such as The Goldsmiths’ Company (UK), the Crafts Council (UK) and the Jewellery and Allied Industries Training Council (JAITC) (UK), so it is not so difficult to become a Jewelry Designer.

Example of a Job Listing for Jewelry Designers

What does a typical day, week and year look like?

Career Description

Jewelry

Designer

Salary and duties associated with the position

Qualifications

Education

Education

Support Groups

Sources

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