Jewelery Design is a wide-ranging field that covers everything from necklaces, bracelets and earrings to cufflinks, brooches and watches. It also encompasses the entire jewelry-making process, including concept development and fabrication. While many artisans still create jewelry by hand, the use of CAD programs is increasingly common for concept creation and 3D printing purposes. Regardless of the medium used, many designers follow a similar creative process to bring their baubles to life.
Creating a stunning piece of jewelry requires a combination of artistic and technical brilliance. This applies to both manual and digital jewelry design, though digital tools make the most impact on the final product. For example, digital modeling can help produce detailed, accurate prototypes for wax models that can then be carved by hand into intricate and complex shapes. It also allows for precise color and material selection, as well as the ability to easily simulate a piece of jewelry on a virtual model.
The discerning jewelry consumer is always on the lookout for the next big thing, whether it’s a sculptural pendant or a beaded statement piece. Designers focusing on fashion jewelry have their fingers on the pulse of current and upcoming trends, and they must be able to translate these styles into designs that are commercially viable for retail manufacturers.
For this reason, it’s important for any jewelry designer to have a solid understanding of materials and the fabrication processes involved in their chosen bauble. The most popular materials for jewelry include silver, gold and precious stones like diamonds and emeralds. While each of these metals has its own unique properties and challenges to work with, they all share some similar characteristics that must be taken into account when designing a new piece of jewelry.
Some jewelry designers work with a full conceptual idea, while others begin with a general sketch or a specific image. Whether or not an artist creates a fully-fledged CAD rendering before beginning construction, subtle tweaks are inevitable throughout the fabrication process. Whether these changes are due to engineering issues or simply aesthetic preferences, they are necessary to ensure the finished product is as flawless and beautiful as possible.
There are several jewelry CAD software packages available for digital jewelry designers, and the choice depends on the intended use of the tool. For those looking to model geometric shapes and smooth surfaces, a solid or surface modeling system like SolidWorks or Rhinoceros is the best option. These systems are ideal for creating products with a precise and tightly controlled geometry, as they allow the designer to numerically define all feature dimensions. For more organic designs, however, polygonal or mesh modeling systems are the most suitable, and there are some CAD environments that offer a hybrid between these two different approaches.
For those new to digital jewelry design, there are a number of entry-level options. Free software like TinkerCAD is easy to learn and can be used to generate a variety of simple and custom jewelry shapes. For those with a little more budget, the open-source Blender is a reasonable choice for most applications, while advanced sculpting software such as ZBrush is an excellent value for organic models.
