How to become a Jewellery Designer?

Overview

What does a jewellery designer do?

• Coming up with the new design ideas
  
• Meeting with clients for the design discussion
  
• Creating the initial sketch and give it a final look with the computer aided design software
  
• Create models of jewellery that needs to be produced in mass with other staff
  
• Selecting the metals and gems that best suits the design
  
• Keep an eye on the latest trends 
  
• Sometimes they involve in the production process also if it is a part of their job
  

Eligibility

There is no specific fixed path available to pursue this career. For such career path, the skills and the experience matters more than the degree or diploma you have. But still, one needs to go for some formal education. A formal education will help you stand out against the competition.
One can choose to pursue a degree in jewellery designing, accessory designing, fashion designing and graphic designing etc.

List of Jewellery Designing courses

How to be there?

The path to becoming a successful jewellery designer can often throw a lot of challenges at you and thus, knowing what to do and how to approach a situation is one of the most important things you should do. The following steps will help you in pursuing this career:

> Complete your 10+2 or equivalent from a recognized school
> Join a degree or diploma course in jewellery designing/accessory designing/fashion designing
> After completing the degree, you can go for a PG degree or diploma. That'll help you in enhancing your skills
> Create a portfolio with your best designs and start looking for a job or an internship
> Join any jewellery house or jewellery designing firm to gain hands on experience
> After having good experience and knowledge of trade, you can choose to start your own business or choose continue with your job

Skills Required

1. Creativity - It's all about great creativity, so a jewellery designer must have good creative imagination skills that can help him/her with new design ideas.
2. Good sense of fashion and accessories
3. Attention to details
4. Drawing or sketching skills
5. Computer software knowledge: Adobe Photoshop, Computer Aided Design (CAD) and 3D rendering, these are the software used by most of the designers.
6. Networking and Social Media skills – If you are thinking to launch your own brand then these skills will help you a lot
7. Good Communication skills

Who should choose this career?

This is not a career that one can join after completing a degree or diploma. It requires some unique skills that can’t be learn from any university or college. One of them is creative imagination skill.
Anyone with a good sense of design, have creative mind with good imagination skills and who always ready to learn the latest in the market can go for this career.

Work Hours

The salaried designer who worked for a designing firm or fashion retailer, then he/she needs to work on regular work hours that is decided by the employer. Anyone who worked as a freelancer can have their own work schedule and they decide the work hours. But freelancing doesn't mean you work whenever you want, each project has a deadline associated, and sometimes you need to work on weekends or late nights also to meet the deadlines or finish the work quickly to make time for another project.

Salary

Skills in Design, Adobe Photoshop, Computer Aided Design (CAD) and 3D Rendering are correlated to pay that is above average. Skills that pay less than market rate include Illustration.
An early career Jewellery Designer with 1-4 years of experience earns an average total compensation (includes tips, bonus, and overtime pay) of Rs. 344,119. A mid-career Jewellery Designer with 5-9 years of experience earns an average total compensation of Rs. 489,796. An experienced Jewellery Designer with 10-19 years of experience earns an average total compensation of Rs. 592,000. (source: payscale)

Career Scope

This career has different options available like one can choose to be a designer only or designer and creator both. The designer only focuses on the design part and once the design done their job done, but if one chooses to design and create both then he/she needs to involve in the production process also.
There are lots of career opportunities available in this field, especially in the country like India, where jewellery is an integral part of every occasion. The Jewellery designers can get job opportunities with:
Boutiques,
Retail chains,
Jewellery manufacturers
Film and Television Industry

After having a good experience in this field and earned a good name as a skilled designer, one can start his own designing firm or jewellery brand.
There are different career path one can choose among:
> Jewellery designer
> Jewellery Merchandiser
> Exhibition Manager
> Fashion consultant

Pros and Cons

Pros
Provide you the great opportunity to show your creativity
A very lucrative field too
After having a good experience you can start your own business

Cons
Lots of competitions
Needs lots of hard work to become successful