Author Emilie Shapiro sells her jewellery at boutiques, museums and several big-name retailers under her brand ‘Emilie Shapiro Contemporary Metals’ but she started out creating one-off pieces for friends and family as so many of us do! In teaching thousands of students over the years in jewellery production, Shapiro identified a lack of resources to help students to create their own jewellery line. She formulated a business course that provided guidance on everything from designing a coherent collection to marketing it to retailers. This book is an extension of this popular course.
As the cover suggests, the book covers everything you need
to turn a home crafting business into a successful jewellery brand —design,
production, finance, marketing and retail. Starting at the beginning, it
discusses the various options available in setting up a company (probably more
useful for US-based readers) as well as providing some really great tips on
choosing the right business name and logo. Picking a name that is “versatile
and simple, and that people will remember” might seem obvious but as Emilie
points out it’s also important to choose a logo that will “look great printed
on a large sign that is 2 feet wide, yet will still look clear printed on
packaging that is 2 inches wide”. Deciding on light and dark versions will also
give you ultimate flexibility later.
The book goes on to cover all aspects of designing with your
brand and production in mind. As Shapiro points out, a different approach is
required for many designers. In creating your own jewellery line, the focus is
on efficiency over creativity, particularly in designing a collection. She suggests
that you “aim to design ten pieces for your first collection. As time goes on, redesign
pieces to make them more functional and saleable, edit out pieces that do not sell and add pieces by expanding
on what worked.” It all sounds a little cold and soulless for me but that’s the
difference between creating on a small scale and creating for retail I guess!
If you can’t quite see yourself pairing back your designs
for the retail market and aren’t sure whether you are ready to sacrifice your
creativity for the sake of a successful jewellery business you might be
thinking that this book is not for you. However, there are some wonderful tips
and ideas from Shapiro that you could take advantage of, however you create and
sell your jewellery. For example, creating artists’ cards and product line
sheets are fantastic ideas and ones I will certainly be trying when I prepare
my next collection of jewellery for a retail environment. There is also a whole
section on pricing your jewellery —something most of us find tricky to say the
least.
Further chapters cover marketing your jewellery line and how
and where to sell your pieces. However, probably the most interesting chapter
for anyone seriously considering growing their business to the level that
Emilie has achieved, is the chapter entitled ‘Insider guidance from industry
professionals’. I found lots of little titbits of information here that I will
bear in mind when I next approach a gallery or shop with my work.
Overall, this book is a good read with lots of useful hints
and information for any jewellery maker. I would say that creators of metal
jewellery would find the chapter on producing a collection of particular
interest as it covers everything from tools to detailed techniques but there is
certainly food for thought for all of us.
