WHAT IS GOOD DESIGN? PART1

Design of any kind is a very controversial subject. Jewelry design in particular raises issues of style, balance, function and that dreadful word - taste.

As I don’t believe there are any fixed rules about design, I am not going to give you any.

However there are two basic principles which a successful design must achieve.

1. The piece must be structured so that, when well made from quality materials, it will be durable and comfortable to wear.

2. It gives pleasure to the wearer.You can easily identify pieces that meet those basic criteria.They are those in your own collection that you wear the most frequently. They are the pieces you instinctively reach for on important occasions because you feel they enhance the best of you in the eyes of both friends and strangers. The best designs for you among your own personal jewelry are those that give you the most pleasure. When you put them on they make you feel good. And they tell other people the things about you that you want them to know.The are also the pieces that work. Those that are functionally efficient. Probably your favorites will be those pieces that are easiest to wear. They do not catch in your hair, clothes, or other people. You can wear them with confidence. They do not break easily, creating the kind of horrific scenario when a necklace flies apart, sending beads scattering across the floor of a busy restaurant. A well constructed necklace, even when strung on thread, will withstand almost any test. If properly knotted between the beads, it will certainly not break into many pieces in the inquisitive hands of your own baby, or a lively grandchild.

The quick test. I you want a quick course in jewelry design, take your own collection and lay it out on your dressing table. Look at the quality of the workmanship, the balance, the colors and textures used, the weight, and the flexibility with which you can wear the different pieces. Try to eliminate the emotional attachments you have for particular pieces because they were gifts, or commemorate special occasions.

Lay these favorites out from left to right in your order of choice. Take the first three anyplace then on a velvet pad.

There - right in front of you - is good design!

You can be a bead jewelry designer.
Designing is rather like riding a bicycle. Almost impossible to describe, but instinctive once you know how. You may already be a designer without knowing it.

I worked for years in this business without considering myself to be a jewelry designer. I viewed myself more as an assembler of jewelry, with the true creative intent of my work being in the beautiful beads that I used, which were then made by other people. It was not until a had to put on a show of my work that I first realized how creative and satisfying is the transformation of individual beads into a jewelry design.

After a hectic day setting up the show, I paused to look around the gallery. My jewelry filled the walls and cases.  At that moment I realized that I was a jewelry designer in my own right. It was one of the biggest thrills of my life.

You can be a bead jewelry designer also, if you are not one already.   There are no great secrets to be learned.  You have within yourself - we all have - the basic creativity to put beads together into personal adornments that are aesthetically pleasing.

But don’t expect to rush out and get a $10,000 order from Neiman Marcus with your first efforts. Nor expect that your initial creations will last for 1,000 years like so many classics of the past.
To advance your design talents requires
honesty
practice
sensitivity
observation.

Let’s look at these essentials in more detail.

HONESTY
Successful designers have their work copied. Honest designers, whether successful or not, do not do the crying. You will not develop fully as a designer if you rely on copying or adapting the creativity of others to pass off as your own work.

 This does not mean that you cannot be inspired by other designers - either by your contemporaries, or by distinguished designers of the past.  Visit museums and galleries.  Study anthropology. Consider why certain forms survive from their use in primitive societies as body paint and bead decoration, through even to the current issue of Vogue.

An important aspect of honesty in jewelry design is to make  simple, honest statements.  Sometimes, and particularly when we are trying to establish a reputation for exceptional designs, we can be tempted to embellish a simple design with extraneous detail, and so destroy  it’s integrity.

Simple designs take creative and marketing courage. There is so much competition out there that we want to dazzle the buyer.  But believe in yourself and the strength of your design concepts and you will find that there are more than enough  buyers who will respond to honest work.

As you will observe with your new designer’s eye, the most elegant women tend to favor simple excellence in their clothes and jewelry.  It takes flair and sometimes, courage for a woman wishing to look her best in a challenging situation to make a simple fashion statement. Design for those women who favor honest simplicity.  

To give me a constant reminder of these very important design considerations, I always have a sign in my studio that says
DARE TO BE SIMPLE!

RESPECT YOUR MATERIALS!
Another important aspect of honesty in bead jewelry design relates to quality of workmanship and materials. We have a responsibility to ourselves as artist and craftspeople, to put the best quality of which we are capable into our work. I suggest that we also have a responsibility to our medium, in other words to our materials.
There is no other business, craft, or form of art which gives such ready access to working with beautiful objects of such age and cultural significance. Only with beads are there such opportunities to take beautiful pieces that may be hundreds, even thousands of years and transform them into items that reflect your own creative understanding and may continue to be treasured for generations into the future. Except for my little one, These beads are Indus Valley, 4000 years old!

 Consequently, when working with rare or old beads, I feel that the designer must mount them with high quality techniques and materials. It is an important aspect of honesty in design. I am appalled at how often important beads are designed into, say, necklaces, threaded in such a way that they afraid against each other, and if - when! the thread breaks, that design will be destroyed and the beads in it either damaged or lost. This necklace is knotted between each focal bead so that if in years to come it was to break, all the beads would still stay together.

PRACTICE.
To achieve the essential balance that is fundamental to good design takes a lot of practice.
In the early stages, don’t hesitate to scrap designs that, in the cold light of the following dawn or in the judgment of an honest critic, lack balance in color, proportion or texture. In other words, scrap anything that’s awkward. Being able to reject your own inferior work is a crucial element of practicing design.
 Some design principles become obvious after comparatively little experience. In an earring, for example, it clearly makes sense to start with small beads near the ear, and increase the sizes downwards. Regard this classic drop effect as simply a guideline with which to work. There are many alternatives, as the illustrations show. Some of these don’t appeal to me as much as the standard drop, but that’s a subjective opinion. Quick drawing to show what I mean.

Adventurous and daring…The more practiced you become, the more adventurous and daring you can be with your designs,  There are some very unconventional earrings designs emerging in solid metal shapes but when working with traditional beads, I suggest that your designs should at least draw on traditional concepts.

In the accompanying illustrations, you can see some new approaches that I have made to earring design, blending innovation with tradition. Note the cluster using 4,000 year old stone beads from the Indus Valley.  (relying on balance, when identical beads are not available. There was now way that I could make a pair of earrings with identical beads in each, because there simply were no two matching beads to be had. So my pair had to rely heavily on common characteristics of balance. Sometimes you can dare to put historic beads together that could even break when dropped! I own this pair and have to admit I have dropped them, but the blue annular beads made in the early 1900s have come through and the earrings are still complete.  I have always shown a pair in my gallery too.

Here is a set of Bohemian Pressed Glass in their beautiful red that I designed for my own three earlobe piercings

I can't resist showing you this pair!

Often, with African trade beads, there is the same problem of getting matches, and the design device to overcome this is to accept the differences and allow the beads to speak for themselves. Their slightly different voices need not be discordant together, but achieve a pleasing and natural harmony in design.

 
Protect your beads by your design details. Practice will teach you to ensure that delicate beads do not damage each other in use. This is particularly likely to happen if two heavy round, or faceted beads knock their mid-points against each other. In the illustrated example, the positioning of the beads provides a stronger cushioning effect than may appear to be the case.
Faceted lead crystal, Swarovski beads, for example need special design protection. I have seen poorly designed old crystal earrings badly dulled and damaged after quite careful wear. Just an evening’s dancing can cause irreversible deterioration!

Working with light.
The more you practice with faceted lead crystal, the more you will underhand that in much bead design your are actually working with light. If the crystals are put together in such a way that the facets rub against each other, then they will be damaged, lose their sparkle , and the light element in the design objective will be compromised. Your design work will always benefit form the greater knowledge of your materials and their historical backgrounds that practice should bring. Let your beads inspire you!
If you work with crystal beads, find out when they were first made, and what was happening historically at that time. Who wore them - and how - and when? You may not make the same kind of jewelry,, but you will be influenced, and possibly also inspired.For example, by studying how the first crystals were made to emulate precious stones, I have tended to treat them in the same way as jewelry, and often get some interesting results.

SENSITIVITY
You cannot design in isolation. Nor - if you want other people to buy your work - by simply indulging just your own preferences. You must be sensitive to the needs and desire of your various markets and outlets. Identify who they are and what they need.  
here are some examples of the categories of outlets who may stock your work, together with some pointers to how you, as the designer, can develop a sensitivity to their particular needs.

 The Fashion Boutiques.
The current trend towards Internet shopping has hurt many bric and mortar stores, but in living here in Bisbee Arizona, I notice with satisfaction that women still love to shop clothes they can touch and try on, and also enjoy visiting my own gallery, so here I go with more suggestions!
You should offer the buyers current color schemes found in the yearly Pantone Charts.

Try to become familiar wit the boutique’s buyer. It is good idea to go in quietly before making an appointment to show your collection, to study the store’s inventory. You may gain considerable insight into  which of your work it is best to show that particular buyer. Remember, they are always short on time! But never assume that you have fully identified the buyer’s taste. Continue, when making your presentation, to be sensitive to a buyers reactions, and do not hesitate to try some of your new designs if the buyer seems open to it.

The Galleries.
These outlets are so diverse, that it is essential to study each one beforehand. You might find that one gallery only carries Specific designers already. while another concentrates on glass an the owner would nt be seen dead with contemporary clay bead jewelry on her walls.

Local Art Shows.
Strut your stuff! Go to the show with a totally flexible attitude, and display the whole diversity of your work . You never know who will be there, and what may appeal to them.
 In general, you will find that your smallest and least expensive pieces sell best at the typical local art show. Mark the prices clearly, and organize your display into groups by price, so that growers can zero in on what they can afford.