Jewelry Trends
There are fashion trends in jewelry, just as there are in clothing, architecture, or cars. In the 1930s much commercial jewelry was made in whitegold, with platinum also widely used. The cool, grayish metals worked well with very streamlined designs, and were complementary to the industrialized style of design. Both metals fell out of favor during the 40s, partly due to platinum being declared a strategic material during WorldWar II. Now these two white precious metals are regaining the public interest.
In the 70s, a fad for Southwestern Indian style jewelry, primarily of turquiose and silver, swept across the country. This caused a resurgence in the use of silver for a less formal style of jewelry, an interest which has continued to this day. (As an aside, many commercial repair shops, used to working only with gold, had to learn the differences between working with silver and gold, as the silver started coming in for repair, much of it made by Hong Kong “Indians”). Then, perhaps as a backlash to the ornate Indian-style silver jewelry, the next major fad was for multiple thin gold chains, usually worn just by themselves, or occasionally with a simple, small pendant.
So what does the current fashiontrend have to do with your design choices? Not much, if you can afford the luxury of doing only what you wish, or if you have a large and very loyal clientele which disregards current fashion. Wearing a large, ornate silver neckpiece when everyone else is wearing tiny gold chains takes fashion courage, an assertive personality, or simply chutzpah.
On the other hand, if you make a living by selling your jewelry, you do need to be aware of the current trends. It will be easier to sell your work if it is not too different from the images with which your customers are being bombarded by ubiquitous multimedia advertising. Developing a product may sound terribly unromantic and thoroughly anti-artistic, but it is necessary if you want to be successful. If your market currently is for limited-production silverwork in a medium price range, making an elaborate, time-consuming, high karat gold piece loaded with expensive gemstones may not make economic sense. But if you want to expand your market, then by all means experiment with something entirely different. Just realize that you will be expending your resources, both time and material, and may not get an immediate return on your efforts.
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