A Custom Perspective.

After many years working in traditional jewelry retail environments I have found that life in our custom jewelry studio is liberating. There is a sense of freedom that accompanies starting with a “blank slate” and creating exactly what a client describes. The focus is now on the creation and not simply the location of the piece. This does require a completely different approach to the interaction with a customer – less salesmanship and more craftsmanship, more interpretation less direction. The process requires heightened listening skills, an open mind and a certain humility. On occasion it may even require a thick skin…..
Success in the custom arena at any level demands not only a superior knowledge of jewelry manufacturing and materials, but also the intuition and the experience to bring only the most necessary technical considerations to the table. Ideally it is the combined imaginations of the participants that breathe life into the emerging creation……
Naturally In the real world the daily routine rarely culminates in explosive genesis. However, from simplest of shadow bands to the most creatively or technically challenging project, the exchange is as fresh and energized as the orchestrator wills it to be. It is never constrained by the familiar mantra of “sell only what is in the case”. Success in this fanciful world can truly be uniquely gratifying. It is a paradoxical world in which to the creative few only by beginning with nothing can you open the window to everything…….
Every custom jewelry shop is as individual and unique as the designs that pass through the hallways. Ultimately each reflects a combination of the drive, the skill and experience of all those contributing to the finished product, the equipment and resources available to accomplish the work, and the philosophy, goals and personalities of those at the helm.