Jewelry Design

When it comes to design, I think that no matter what area you’re working in, whether it’s clothing, furniture, home décor, jewelry design, anything; there are a zillion different ways to create. If you are working on jewelry design for a big company within the industry, everybody is using a CAD system. That has its merits. There are people who will learn jewelry design by being an apprentice, under someone like me. They learn the technique of jewelry design hands-on, and then go on to do their own thing. Nobody is really “self-taught” in jewelry design. Eventually everyone needs to take a class and learn some techniques.
My way of jewelry design is completely tied to what my skills are. I don’t render. I don’t know how to sketch. That means I have to either build 3-dimensional pieces or 3-dimensional models if I’m going to reproduce them; or I have to learn a CAD system. I don’t want to use a CAD system to create a jewelry design because, for me, it’s the hands-on. If I had hundreds of millions of dollars, would my business change? Yes. I would probably take a break, relax and let new designs flow more easily. However, within a month or two you would hear a tap-tap-tapping and I’d be working the metal, designing 3-dimensionally again.
Inspiration for jewelry design? That comes from everywhere. For a long time for me, was architectural; not necessarily geometric. I like much more organic. I like medieval, Etruscan, and Byzantine. Old appeals to me. I am still influenced by architecture. You know, in this country, we don’t have that many really old buildings. There’s this place in New York called The Cloisters, and the architecture there is so beautiful that every time I’m there I come away with a new idea to start pondering in my head. But jewelry design, it’s really individual to the person and how they work. I have to work 3-dimensionally. I can sketch well enough that I understand my drawings, but I could never give it to somebody else to reproduce.