Jewellery Design

Jewellery design and jewellery making is a very interesting field. Most jewellery is worn by women but there are many designers who cater for men as well. We can see this from musicians and singers adorning necklaces and watches made from diamonds and gold to white gold and gems better known as “bling”! The term jewellery is given to anything that adorns the body and is worn by someone. However, items which are attached to clothing or made of material other than metal and gems is known as accessories.

An actress on the red carpet, would adorn herself displaying some exquisite jewellery to go with the evening gown chosen for the event. Not all jewellery produced is necessarily bought, some can be hired for special occasions as some items can be one-off designs and a work of art that can sometimes be priceless. Jewellery retailers have constant security personnel at hand to guard their display shop from burglary as some pieces alone, can fetch a fortune. Thus, every culture uses jewellery as a means of investing their wealth in something that when cashed-in can obtain a good price. Jewellery, in the past and in some ways still is, worn to show a person’s social status.

The history of jewellery design stems some 40,000 years ago from the first homo sapiens in East Africa using ostrich egg and snail shells to adorn themselves. Jewellery designing has come a long way and along with the changing trends in fashion, designs in jewellery change all the time. The choice of materials can differ from precious metal, beads, stones, crystals to costume jewellery made of wire and other cheaper materials. Some fashion designers design jewellery along with clothing and perfume like Christian Dior and Channel. Others like Bvlgari only create perfumes and jewellery. Some items can be expensive purely due to the brand name behind it even though the materials used are of lesser value.

Money cannot buy love but it can buy the jewellery to show the love. As a society we are intrigued by the size of a diamond on an engagement ring as it emphases the “love” factor of the person giving and thus, people including famous celebrities adorn themselves and their partners with the most expensive jewellery and accessories in a way of showcasing their love, wealth and status.

Jewellery design is a fine art and can accentuate the beauty and charm of the wearer.