How Do You Become a Jewelry Designer?

Jewelry may be the smallest part of an outfit, but it can often be the most impactful. Whether inspired by cultural traditions, natural elements or a fine heirloom passed down through generations, each piece is charged with a unique energy that originates in the hands of its designer.

“I’m very inspired by the world around me: the natural world, geometry, pop culture, art. I feel like I have so many designs flowing out of me,” Lisa Salzer, founder of Lulu Frost Jewelry, tells Fashionista.

For so many designers, the fascination with accessories starts from a young age. For Salzer, it began when she was just 13 years old. “I started bending wire and beating it and making little flower rings — it was the ’90s after all, and flower power was the vibe.” After creating beaded petals to loop over her copper wire, Salzer sold her first batch of product to a local boutique, planting the seed for what would become a beloved brand. Today, her vintage-inspired jewelry brand has been worn and adored by Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Blake Lively — to name just a few.

Despite starting her eponymous brand just a few years ago, designer Shana Cave has also received stamps of approval from plenty of celebrities. “I got a DM from Bella Hadid‘s stylist. Within that same month, Dua Lipa was also DMing me,” she recalls to Fashionista. “I couldn’t even realize what was happening when it was happening.”

So, what does it take for an independent jewelry label to reach that level of desirability and acclaim? Below, Salzer, Cave and other designers discuss how they launched their businesses, what it takes to design and launch a collection, the impacts of dupe culture and more.

How and when did you know you wanted to become a jewelry designer?

Cave became fascinated with natural objects on a trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History as a young girl. There, she would spend hours in the rocks and minerals department. “Nature is my favorite designer,” she tells Fashionista. Now, her brand focuses largely on floral symbols, a shape she developed from one of her childhood sketchbooks.

Discovering a love for decorative things happens early for many (Pretty Pretty Princess, anyone?), including Leslie Cherit, the founder and designer behind Timeless Pearly. “I used to always play with clothes — cutting them, dyeing them, doing whatever I could to change something about them. Then I started playing with beads in the same way,” says Cherit. My grandma always had amazing jewelry that I would steal from her. One of the pieces I stole became our signature charm, the Pantin, also called Pinocchio.”

Catherine Sarr of fine jewelry brand Almasika had more of a “quiet” interest in pursuing creating her own jewelry that existed in the background of her life: “After working in the luxury diamond industry in London for over a decade, I felt the urge to create something of my own. I did not follow a traditional path in design, so instead I learned by immersing myself in the industry and working closely with artisans.”

How does your educational background inform your work?

Beyond technical training and honing their craft, a successful jewelry designer and brand founder must also be prepared to run a business. For Salzer, attending Dartmouth’s Tuck Bridge Program (which she describes as “a sort of summer business boot-camp”) was the move she needed to make to start taking her career seriously: “It was really tough for me, being an art studio kid, but I stuck it out and learned the many wonders of Excel.”

Matthew Harris, founder of Mateo New York, says that despite taking courses that focused on design, most of his education came from actually doing the work. “You have to start by learning the fundamentals — not just the sketching, but understanding materials, proportions and how pieces wear and feel. Intern if you can, or apprentice with a bench jeweler.”

Cave describes her time in school as “a bit random.” She graduated with a BFA in Fashion Design from Virginia Commonwealth University, but ended up studying abroad at Central Saint Martins. “In America, it’s a bit more of a commerce space, decisions are made based on what’s going to sell. Whereas I think in Europe — and Central Saint Martins specifically — they know that if you create something that’s genuine and really original, it’s going to sell regardless. People are always drawn to what’s real.”

One of the most valuable lessons Cave learned in college, she says, is how to price her pieces.

“The stereotypical price of jewelry in most people’s minds is expensive,” Cave explains. “Gold and silver are definitely expensive, but jewelry has a really high margin because of the labor being put into it. When you learn jewelry making at school, you learn how much things are going to (and should) cost.”

What is it like breaking into such an established, old-money industry? Do you need connections?

Despite occupying a relatively high price range (from $60 for a single flower stud earring to upwards of $950 for silver quartz-covered lariats), Cave says the “craft world” (a.k.a. traditional fine jewelers) don’t exactly take her seriously: “I get a lot of raised eyebrows. I don’t think people understand how my business works and how I’m able to sell off of social media — they’re just from a different generation.”

The jewelry industry can be one of the toughest fields in which to establish a career, especially for those without a connection to the established jewelry community. “You break through with vision and persistence,” Harris (also a 2017 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist), tells Fashionista. “The industry is traditional, but it’s also hungry for new voices. What helped me was creating jewelry that felt personal yet refined — pieces that told a story but could live in someone’s everyday. You don’t need connections to begin, but you do need conviction, a strong point of view and a willingness to work your way in.”

Cherit didn’t have any connections in the space, either. Instead, she — like Cave — used social media and influencers to boost her audience.

“Once [influencers] started wearing my pieces, everyone wanted to wear Timeless Pearly,” she shares. “I have so much fun with our Instagram account, but we do it very differently from other brands. Most of the pictures we post are taken in the showroom. It’s never a big production.”

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That casual attitude has been the brand’s greatest asset. On TikTok, Cherit’s assortment of whimsically oversized gold and resin charms and multicolored cords goes viral at least once a month. Beyond buying Timeless Pearly’s playful and handmade pieces, shoppers can also visit the brand’s Paris showroom in person and customizing their items.

“It’s become a huge part of the business,” she says of the showroom, which opened last year. “We get four to 10 appointments every day of girls coming in and designing their piece. It’s super popular. Tourists from the United States come to Paris and know they want to come here.”

What makes your brand distinctive in such a saturated category?

For Timeless Pearly, having this in-person, custom experience is key to its ongoing success. It allows people to indulge in a childlike sense of wonder and fun for a few minutes, while still having a high-quality jewelry shopping experience.

Cave’s brand also evokes nostalgia, bringing people back to the simple flowers and heart shapes of their childhood jewelry boxes. “As a girl, we view womanhood as something that is so luxurious — just the idea of glamour and being a princess,” she says. “That naive freedom of not knowing is something you can never really tap into again. I think that’s what my jewelry represents. I’m never going to be a princess and I’m probably going to be working class for most of my life, but I can take a shortcut to that with material wealth by making it myself. I don’t actually live that lifestyle, but I can, for a second, pretend.”

Almasika, despite its mostly mostly minimalist, gold-toned, fine selection, leans into playfulness, too. Hoop earrings have a slight warp to them and rings have soundwave-like ripples all over — design details that make the items feel special without straying from an overall classic aesthetic.

“I focus on creating from a place of meaning rather than following trends,” says Sarr. “Almasika’s look is sculptural, refined and rooted in timeless forms. Each collection is built around a central idea or symbol, so there is a narrative through line. That helps the work stand apart. I am not trying to reinvent everything each season but rather deepen a language that is already ours.” 

Walk us through the process of a new collection, from design to manufacturing.

“It often starts with a spark — a shape, an emotion, a piece of art or architecture. From there, I sketch ideas and refine them into cohesive forms,” says Harris. “I consider wearability, movement and how it will live on the body. Then comes prototyping — first in wax or [digitally], followed by physical samples. After reviewing and refining, we finalize production and photograph the collection for launch.”

Salzer’s process largely changes based on whether she’s working on a fine collection or a fashion line, but the first step typically remains the same. “I collect fabulous vintage references and start thinking about a theme,” she says. “I decide what materials to use based on the mood and feel of the collection – is the concept hard or soft? Quick or slow? I use abstract terms sometimes to determine how best to represent a feeling through materials.”

For Sarr, a new collection begins with a thought or question prompted by current conversations, events and personal observations in her life. Once she’s done researching and sketching, she takes those ideas to her artisans to “develop prototypes. From concept to final piece, it is about creating something that feels both beautiful and purposeful.”

What are the impacts of dupe culture on your business? How do you deal with it?

“It’s really like whack-a-mole,” says Salzer. “Back in 2008 to 2013, there were so many copies of my work being made. In some cases, I had a letter sent to Etsy vendors selling counterfeit Lulu Frost, but they also pop up elsewhere, so we left well enough alone. The folks who want to find their way to the real Lulu Frost know how to get there, and all are welcome.”

Cherit has also chosen the high road, opting to flip the script and take copycat products as a compliment: “At our showroom, sometimes I get clients who take a million pictures, and my dad hates it because [he thinks] they might copy us. But I always tell him, ‘If I get copied, it’s because I’m doing something good.'”

Related: Those Fast-Fashion ‘Dupes’ Are Slowing the Progression of Small, Independent Brands

What’s your best advice for someone interested in becoming a jewelry designer?

Across the board, each designer has nearly the same advice: Be authentic to your vision and intern wherever you can. “Work with as many industry people as you can. Spend at least three months at each place to learn,” Salzer encourages. “Learning from our elders and those who are more experienced is cool!”

Harris agrees: “Be curious, learn the craft and don’t rush to make a brand — focus first of making good, thoughtful jewelry.”

“Know why you are doing it,” Sarr urges. “Building a brand or a creative practice takes time. Let it grow with you.”

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Source: Fashionista.com