Jewelry Design

Jewelry (for intro.)

‘ All materials may be used to make jewels, provided they can be manipulated in one way or another.’

Carlos Pastor, Spanish Jewelry Designer

History of Jewelry (for intro.)

• Jewelry is one of the oldest decorative arts.

• Jewelry is the term to describe objects which are used to decorate the human body.

• Jewelry has been worn since ancient times – as ornaments, emblems of religious belief or even to protect a person against disease, misfortune or witchcraft.

• There are many different functions of jewelry. Some are; rings, bracelets, necklaces, crowns, belts, earrings, brooches, cuff-links, clasps and jewelry for hair…..can you think of any more?

Jewelry Now (for intro.) • People still buy jewelry today. There are a lot of

High Street shops which sell jewelry: Next, River Island, H&M, Top Shop, Top Man Debenhams….. (remember jewellery is not just for women)

• Jewelry ranges in price and value – from £1 to £millions. This varies because of materials used and who has designed the piece of jewelry. Gold jewelry is more expensive than metal spray painted gold!

• Fashion designers use jewelry on their catwalk shows to complete an outfit. These can be very expensive, large pieces of jewelry designed to grab attention.

Jewelry (for intro.)

• Jewelry is meant for show; it is designed to attract attention and to impress the viewer.

• From the beaded necklaces of ancient Egyptians to the flashy, large-scale “bling bling” worn by hip-hop stars, sports heroes, and their fans, jewelry has always offered complex social and cultural meanings.

Costume Jewelry

• What do we mean by ‘costume’?• This is jewelry that is made from non-precious materials.• Its appeal is in the original design, skilful use of colour,

high standards of craftsmanship and sometimes how exotic or extravagant it looks.

• Work by Grainne Morton is costume jewelry.

• It can still be expensive but it the price is usually hundreds at the most and not thousands of pounds.

• Precious jewelry (Tiffany’s) is precious and therefore very expensive.

Words that you may find helpful

• Attached• Classic• Colourful• Constructed (made)• Contemporary (modern)• Contrasting (opposites)• Curvaceous (curved)• Detailed• Dull• Expensive• Fragile• Heavy• Manufactured • Moulded• Neutral (plain colours, beiges etc)• Opaque (doesn’t let light through)• Opulent (rich)• Patterned• Reflective• Robust (strong, not easily broken)• Rough

• Rounded• Scale• Shiny• Size• Sleek• Strong• Surface• Textured

Analysing Jewelry• Like any other area of design, Jewelry has been designed. A designer has

worked through a similar design process that we work through at school. The pieces that you are looking at are their solutions.

• When studying jewelry designs, consider the following:

• Form What does the piece of jewelry look like? Describe it in detail. Imagine the person reading your essay has not seen the item of jewelry.

• Function What is the function? Is it a necklace, bracelet…? Does it look as if it would be suitable to be this particular piece of jewelry. Give reasons for your answer.

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Analysing Jewelry• Target market Who would buy this? Is it for a man or

woman? What age group of customer would buy this do you think?

• Materials used What materials have been used in this piece of jewellery? If you do not have this information, then make a sensible guess.

• Has the design been successful? Do you think that the designer has succeeded in creating a good design? An important point to consider, would the target market buy it?

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Analysing Jewelry• Your opinion This is the most important part of your

essay. You might really like or dislike the examples of jewelry that you have been

looking at. You are not expected to like everything that you see. As long as you can justify your opinions about a design then your views will be valued. You have to give reasons; for example “I do not like this design as I do not think the colour of the stones works well with the colour of the leather chosen. I think that a darker colour would have provided more of a contrast.” Remember to give reasons.

Jewelry Designers working nowGrainne Morton

• Grainne is originally from Northern Ireland. She now has a workshop in Edinburgh where she creates contemporary (modern) jewellery. From fashioning jewelry from flowers to trawling antique fairs for one-off items to complete her compartmental jewellery, Grainne is happy making a living doing exactly what she wants.

• Grainne says: “I’ve always been quite creative. My parents always encouraged me to work with my hands taking up needlework and craft hobbies when I was younger. My aunt, Alison Kinnaird is a famous glass engraver, so I suppose I have been influenced by her too."

• When Grainne left school, Edinburgh College of Art beckoned and although she studied many subjects, jewellery appealed because she liked to work on a smaller scale.

Jewelry Designers working nowGrainne Morton

• Grainne makes jewellery made up of smaller parts pieced together. She uses bits and pieces including old buttons as well as materials like silver, gold and oxidised copper.

• A lot of her high fashion work - necklaces and bracelets - are made from laminated flowers. The artist has work in galleries abroad and has found favour in the States. She already supplies Barney’s in the US and Japan as well as taking orders from Liberty’s in the UK.

• Grainne says: "My work is appreciated by American buyers because I make bigger pieces. I make a lot of compartmental jewellery for which I use old materials - the Americans like that because they know about history. The old paraphernalia isn’t worth a lot of money but I piece it together into very attractive jewellery.“

• See some more examples of her work on the next slide

Jewelry Designers working now:Grainne Morton

Charm necklace £240

Jewelry Designers working now:Grainne Morton

Large sampler brooch £595

Laminate petal flower necklace £270

Jewelry Designers working now:Grainne Morton

Colour button necklace £230

Charm bracelet £220

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933)

• After his father's death (father was Charles Lewis Tiffany, co founder of Tiffany &Co.) in 1902, Tiffany became vice president and Design Director of Tiffany & Co..

• His familiarity with jewelry manufacturing at the firm, as well as the collaboration with his father on several pieces for the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, undoubtedly inspired him to produce jewellery at his own workshops.

• He began experimenting, in much secrecy, with the design and fabrication of jewellery intending to introduce his work at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.

• Tiffany & Co. is still a famous jewellers. There are stores worldwide. See how the company has evolved by looking at slides 24 and 25.

• Tiffany broke new ground with his work in jewellery. In the necklaces, brooches, and other forms he made, Tiffany, like his counterparts in Europe, transformed jewellery from mere jewelled ornament to art.

• He used semiprecious stones—opals, moonstones, garnets, amethysts, and coral—in contrast to the precious gems set in pieces by Tiffany and Company. The semiprecious stones embodied the properties that he valued in other media.

• The milky quality of moonstones, for example, resembled his creamy opalescent glass, and the fiery glow of opals, the glowing iridescent surfaces of his Favrile vases. Tiffany set the stones in novel and inventive ways, often in combination with colour, combining one or two hues with subtle variations.

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933)

• Beginning in 1907 jewelry designed by Tiffany and fabricated under his direction was made at the workshops of Tiffany and Company, where production was supervised by Julia Munson, who had transferred from the enamels department at Tiffany Furnaces.

• When Munson retired in 1914, her post was filled by Meta K. Overbeck. Tiffany, who valued the dexterity and skill that women demonstrated in delicate handwork, staffed the jewelelry department predominately with female designers and artisans.

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933)

Hair ornament , ca. 1904Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933)AmericanPlatinum, enamel, black and pink opals, garnets, H. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkGift of Linden Havemeyer Wise, in memory of Louisine W. Havemeyer, 2002 (2002.620)

This hair ornament is one of the most extraordinary pieces of Tiffany's jewellery to survive, incorporating a remarkably realistic rendering of two dragonflies resting on two dandelion puffs, or seed balls. Thematically characteristic of his work, it shows the plants not at the height of bloom, but in a natural fading state, just before the seed pods are blown away. Remarkably, one of the puffs is portrayed as already partially stripped of its pods. The dragonflies, a familiar Tiffany motif, feature shimmering black opals along the back and in an almost unbelievable creation in metal filigree, gossamer like wings. The hair ornament was originally owned by one of Tiffany's most ardent patrons, Louisine W. Havemeyer.

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933)

Necklace, ca. 1904 Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933)AmericanOpals, gold, and enamel, L. 18 in. (45.7 cm)The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkGift of Sarah E. Hanley, 1946 (46.168.1)

This necklace composed of grape clusters and leaves is one of the rare examples of Tiffany's earliest jewellery. Tiny circular black opals represent the fruit, and enamelling in shades of green on gold forms the delicate shimmering leaves. It was among the twenty-seven pieces that Tiffany made for exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904. The necklace was a gift to the Museum from Sarah E. Hanley, Tiffany's nurse and later companion, to whom he must have presented it.

Background to Art Nouveau (style of Tiffany jewelry)

Art Nouveau was a late 19th Century international design movement (trend). The

timeline for Art Nouveau was mid 1880’s to approx 1910.

Art Nouveau involved design, architecture and the decorative arts.

• Art Nouveau used the natural world as inspiration for designs. Flowers, leaves and birds are common features of work.

Background to Art Nouveau (style of Tiffany jewelry)

Words used to describe

Art Nouveau work:

• Decorative• Elegant• Ornamental• Elongated shapes (tall as if

stretched)• Flowing lines• Stylish• Natural motifs (images)• Detailed

• Designers whose work was in this style are as follows:

• Louis Comfort Tiffany 1848-1933 (jewellery, lamps and glassware)

• Charles Rennie Mackintosh 1868-1928 (architecture, furniture, textile design, interior design, painting)

• Antoni Gaudi 1852-1926 (architecture)

• Emile Galle 1846-1904 (glass and furniture)

• Rene Lalique 1827-1886 (jewellery and glassware)

This is Tiffany jewelry as soldtoday. Find out more by visitinghttp://www.tiffanyjewelrylife.com

More jewelry as sold today

Glossary of jewelry terms

• Amulet something worn to protect a person against disease, misfortune or witchcraft.

• Bakelite first synthetic plastic invented in 1907-09. Used a lot in jewellery of the 1920’s and 1930’s.

• Cameo jewel decorated with a carved design in low relief (slightly raised from the surface). Usually the design is a profile of a person (the side of their head).

• Costume jewelleryThis is jewellery that is made from non-precious materials. It is often made to look like expensive jewelry but is not expensive to buy.

• Diamante non-precious stones that have the look of diamonds. Often found in costume jewelry.

• Enamel opaque (can’t see through it) substance similar to glass. Used to decorate the surface of metal.

Glossary of jewelry terms

Fibula a type of brooch similar to a safety pin.

Hallmark stamp on gold or silver which guarantees the metal’s purity.

Lapidary related to the cutting, polishing and engraving of gems and stones.

Paste glass made to look like gemstones.

Repousse back of metal punched to create a relief (raised) design on the front.

Setting the space where a stone (diamond, gemstones…) would be positioned or held.