Profession jewellery designer
Jewellery designers use a variety of materials, including gold, silver and precious stones to design and plan pieces of jewellery that can have a wearable or decorative purpose. They are involved in the different stages of the making process and may design for individual clients or for mass production clients.
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Personality Type
- Artistic / Enterprising
Knowledge
- Art history
The history of art and artists, the artistic trends throughout centuries and their contemporary evolutions.
Skills
- Collaborate with a technical staff in artistic productions
Coordinate your artistic activities with others who specialise in the technical side of the project. Inform the technical staff of your plans and methods and obtain feedback on feasibility, cost, procedures and other relevant information. Be able to understand the vocabulary and the practises about technical issues
- Clean jewellery pieces
Clean and polish metal items and pieces of jewellery; handle mechanical jewellery-making tools such as polishing wheels.
- Create jewellery
Create pieces of jewellery using precious materials such as silver and gold.
- Trade in jewellery
Buy and sell jewellery, or serve as an intermediate between potential buyers and sellers.
- Examine gems
Closely examine gemstone surfaces using polariscopes or other optical instruments.
- Define artistic approach
Define your own artistic approach by analysing your previous work and your expertise, identifying the components of your creative signature, and starting from these explorations to describe your artistic vision.
- Record jewel processing time
Record the amount of time it took to process an item of jewellery.
- Develop jewellery designs
Develop new jewellery designs and products, and modify existing designs.
- Select metals for jewellery
Select and purchase precious metals and alloys to use in jewellery pieces
- Record jewel weight
Record the weight of finished jewellery pieces.
- Ensure conformance to jewel design specifications
Examine finished jewellery products to ensure that they meet quality standards and design specifications. Use magnifying glasses, polariscopes or other optical instruments.
- Use jewellery equipment
Handle, modify, or repair jewellery-making equipment such as jigs, fixtures, and hand tools such as scrapers, cutters, gougers, and shapers.
- Heat jewellery metals
Heat, melt and shape metals for jewellery making.
- Cast jewellery metal
Heat and melt jewellery materials; pour in moulds to cast jewellery models. Use jewellery-making material such as spanners, pliers or presses.
- Calculate value of gems
Determine appraised value of gemstones such as diamonds and pearls; study price guides, market fluctuations and grades of rarity.
- Cut gem stones
Cut and shape gemstones and jewellery pieces.
- Gather reference materials for artwork
Gather samples of the materials you expect to use in the creation process, especially if the desired piece of art necessitates the intervention of qualified workers or specific production processes.
- Smoothen rough jewel parts
Smoothen rough parts of pieces of jewellery using hand files and emery paper.
- Contextualise artistic work
Identify influences and situate your work within a specific trend which may be of an artistic, aesthetic, or philosophical natures. Analyse the evolution of artistic trends, consult experts in the field, attend events, etc.
- Build jewellery models
Construct preliminary jewel models using wax, plaster or clay. Create sample castings in moulds.
- Mark designs on metal pieces
Mark or engrave designs on metal pieces or pieces of jewellery, closely following design specifications.
- Select gems for jewellery
Select and purchase gems to use in jewellery pieces and designs.
- Repair jewellery
Make jewellery repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewellery back together, and replacing broken or worn-out clasps and mountings.
- Adjust jewellery
Alter existing jewellery mountings in order to reposition or remake jewels, or to adjust mountings.
- Mount stones in jewels
Mount gemstones in pieces of jewellery closely following design specifications. Place, set and mount gemstones and metal parts.