First of all, I should explain that I don’t really consider myself to be a jewelry designer. I’m a lampwork beadmaker at heart. I make jewelry to showcase my beads, to inspire others to use lampwork in their designs, and to sell for extra cash so I can buy more glass and make more beads. I love nothing better than to see what someone else has done with my beads. In spite of that, my jewelry sells even better than the beads themselves.
A while ago I opened a little gallery with a friend where we could sell our work and offer retail space for other artists. This was a phenomenal experience. For someone who had traditionally sold her beads online, watching the reactions to my work has been an education.
My jewelry designs are simple. There’s nothing terribly ornate or even original about them. What sets them apart is the quality. Naturally, they contain artist lampwork beads. But also, I only use sterling silver or better for the metal components, the crystals are Swarovski™, and if there are natural gemstones in them, they’re the best I can find. Then I make sure to engineer them so they are durable. (I do have an engineering background.) I like to use Softflex or similar cable for the stringing which will take 15 lbs or so and I ensure strong connections. I’m fairly confident that the clasp will fail before the cord does. Also, since I have difficulties using clasps and hate fumbling around trying to get a piece of jewelry on and off, I try to match the most usable clasp for the particular piece.
The result is something special. People are impressed with the quality. This results in sales which results in loyal customers, customers of customers, and some fabulous word-of-mouth advertising.
From a pricing standpoint this also makes sense. One of the largest parts of the price of a piece of jewelry is the time you put into it (and if you aren’t paying yourself for your time… What are you thinking?). For a piece with a decent amount of your time involved in it, the price difference between quality materials and cheap materials becomes almost irrelevant. The result of using quality materials is a reasonably priced piece of jewelry which will sell far easier (even though the price will be higher) than an unreasonably priced piece made from worthless materials. It is also important to know that not all sales are driven by price.
Case in point: For a short time we had a jewelry designer in our gallery who did some really surprising designs, but used inferior materials. We thought she would do okay because her work was so unusual. It turns out that the lack of quality in her work was a huge turn-off for customers and her sales were very poor compared to the other jewelry makers in the shop.
If someone wants the piece, the price won’t matter.
So the next time you pick up that base metal clasp, cheap glass bead, and flimsy beading string, think about the time you are going to pour into this piece. Would your time be better spent using quality materials? Upgrading to quality materials will instantly improve your jewelry designs.
