Jewelry design is a creative process that involves putting together a collection of pieces of jewelry. Designers use a variety of techniques to create their work, including a number of different materials, including precious metals, gemstones, and beads. They may also use a computer-aided design (CAD) program to create their designs.
Jewelery Design – Career Options
The field of jewelry design is an exciting one that combines art, technology and a passion for fashion and accessories. It is a great choice for artists who have a natural flair for this type of work.
It is a relatively young and growing field that offers a wide range of career opportunities, including self-employment as a designer or freelancer, or employment as an appraiser. Most designers choose to start their own businesses or work for larger jewellery companies.
Training for a career in jewellery designing is available at many technical colleges and through various courses, which can be taken over a period of 3-6 months to 2 years. Courses focus on art and craft skills, along with computer-aided design (CAD) software packages.
A jewelry design is a sketch of a new piece of jewelry that is drawn or created with a CAD program. It typically includes the shape, structure and proportions of the design and often includes small details such as prongs or stones.
Most jewelry designers work with gemstones to create their designs. These can be cut or cast into a variety of shapes and sizes. Beads, which are made from bone, clay, glass, shells or other natural materials, are also used in jewelry designs.
Jewelry designers may use traditional methods, such as wax sculpting, soldering, bending and weaving, or more advanced digital workflows, which are rapidly transforming the industry. Modern CAD systems offer rapid design iterations and rapid prototypes, which allow jewelry designers to test their designs with customers and consult on aesthetics and proportions before making a commitment to a physical product.
3D Printing for Jewelry Design
As part of a digital transformation strategy, jewelry designers can begin by introducing a stereolithography 3D printer to their workflow. Using Formlabs Grey Resin, they can make rapid prototypes of their designs, which enable consultative client sessions. This can help to identify any flaws in the design and increase customer satisfaction and confidence.
Using a mesh modeler like Maya, Modo, or Blender can give jewelry designers more freedom to experiment with organic shapes. Mesh models store geometry as vertices, edges, and faces, which can be individually manipulated using low-level commands or high-level modifiers that affect the entire object.
A good mesh modeling tool is essential to a jewelry designer, as it can be used to create all types of objects in an organic and realistic manner. For example, Maya is a polygonal modeler that allows you to bend, twist, shear, and stretch your shapes. It also features a number of other tools for creating organic shapes.
Some of the best software for CAD jewelry design is 3Design, which has an extensive library of reoccurring and custom jewelry designs, such as twisted lofts, multi-rail sweeps, torsades, braids, and pave settings. Moreover, 3Design’s advanced freeform sculpting capabilities can be extended with a range of specialized sculpting modifiers.
