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.