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THE JOBS
Accessory designers are trained as stylists
for men's, ladies or children's accessories. They specialise
in leather designing /jewellery designing etc.
After carrying out a detailed research
about the accessory they are required to work on, designers
create new and attractive designs for their clients. In
the traditional, studio–based design sector, crafts
people work to prepare each article individually. Their
work is sold through local outlets, at tourist destinations,
emporia and through craft metals.
Jewellery designers create new designs
for gold, silver and precious metal jewellery. Large exporters
employ designers or select designs from eminent freelancers.
Gemologists are experts in assessing the quality, value
and use of gems for jewellery. They are experts in grading,
sorting and setting of gems in various metals.
One of the most interesting things about
the jewellery/metals field is that there are so many career
options, so many contexts that one can choose to work in.
There are even ways of becoming wealthy if that is important
in one’s goals. There are some broad categories of
career choice within the field with various remunerative
implications. Choosing a training path is a matter of listing
one’s goals in life, of deciding how one wishes to
live, what responsibilities, pressures and degree of self
direction and independence one has. Whether one chooses
to become a jewellery store owner, artist jeweller, well
paid stone setter or sales manager is a matter of temperament
as much as anything else. Therefore before beginning to
make choices of end goal which will decide the route to
take one should be comfortable with one’s life choices.
Whether ones likes to be directed or needs no boss is important.
It does not matter what one chooses as long as one is conscious
about it. Any combination of rewards is possible in the
field. It is important to have joy from your career, your
profession, your life. Some paths will mean late nights
and short vacations for a long time, others will bring local
or national respect, still others will have steady income
and low responsibility. Degrees of stress will vary. Best
is to talk to a number of people doing the career that you
find interesting.
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THE FUTURE ::
What will be coming is a day when on most
jewellery store desks there sits a computer, screen and
3-D prototyping machine. The store owner slips a CD into
the computer and shows the customer various rendered models
of rings or jewellery. The stone’s colors, shapes and
sizes can easily by altered from the keyboard or with a
mouse. Heads can be exchanged on rings with a quick mouse
click on a menu of photographic choices from the suppliers
line. Various models can also be quickly chosen from images
on a menu. A color printout of the photographically rendered
jewellery piece can be handed to the customer. If the store
has not yet bought the code for that particular model or
combination a quick call is made to the issuing company’s
phone number, the model number is typed in on the phone
and an access code given. The jeweller then types that in
and the 3-D prototyping system quickly turns out a finished
wax model ready for burnout, casting and finishing in the
customer’s size. There will be jewellery designers
who work a keyboard and mouse. And that even before they
come out with machines that turn out the finished gold jewellery
ready for setting and skip the casting step. There will
however continue to be a place for most of the professions
mentioned in this article.
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