Two 'designer' jewelry and pricing questions.

Factual Questions
1

I’ve got some background to go into, so I hope you’ll bear with me.
One of my hobbies is making jewelry. I’ve been doing it for about a year now. Although it’s not the most inexpensive craft one can get into, it’s very relaxing, and it feels great to make something that turns out well. It’s a terrific creative outlet.

Unfortunately, the ol’ creativity sometimes needs a jump start. When it does, I grab the latest issue of Cosmo or Glamour or any one of the 3 billion catalogs my mom gets in the mail. They’re usually good for a couple of ideas, since I use a lot of the same materials: glass and freshwater pearls, glass and semiprecious beads, goldfill and sterling silver, etc.

If you’ve seen the jewelry in these magazines or catalogs, you’ve probably noticed one thing: that although the pieces you see there can range from “classic” to “modern”, from simple to ornate, from casual to elegant, and from cute to striking, what nearly all of them have in common are amazingly, almost outrageously high prices.

I’m not talking about the 18kt gold and platinum wedding bands or the three-carat princess-cut diamond solitaires. I’m talking about necklaces, bracelets, and earrings made with glass and semiprecious beads and pearls and goldfill and sterling silver… the very same materials that wannabe designers such as myself use.

It’s not uncommon to find necklaces that cost $150 or earrings that cost $80. And it’s been that way for as long as I’ve been looking at these magazines and catalogs, from even before I was looking for project ideas.

What gets to me about this is that the cost of making these pieces is often nowhere near the the price being asked. When I see a piece I like, I mentally deconstruct it, and then hunt down the individual components in my catalogs and calculate what it’d cost me if I tried to make it on my own. It always comes out to far less than the asking price.

For example, there was a $180 pair of earrings in last month’s Glamour. Based on the short blurb next to the picture, I figured I could make the same thing (and make it quite easily, I should add) for about a tenth of that price.

I could understand such a huge markup if they were from well-known, established designers, but they’re not. I’d say 95% of the time, I’ve never heard of the designer. Admittedly, I’m hardly at the height of haute couture myself. There are probably many up-and-coming young designers I couldn’t tell from my next door neighbor. But sheesh, I don’t live in a cave, either. (The poor lighting would make jewelry making difficult. :))

So here are my questions:

  1. How do these designers set their prices? If they have control over pricing, how do they justify a hundred-dollar price tag on something that was so inexpensive for them to make?

  2. How do these designers get noticed and have their jewelry featured in Cosmo or a Neiman Marcus catalog, anyway? Did these designers become popular within the fashion circuit first? Is being showcased in print media how they make their way into the mainstream? Or does it work some other way?

Any replies greatly appreciated.

2

My sister used to sell jewelry at your standard US mall jewelry shop. IIRC, she once told me that the standard mark up was 400%.

Never pay full retail.

3

You have only priced the cost of the materials. There are several other factors involved.

The time put into a piece of artwork (I consider jewelry art) will increase the value significantly. Many of these designer pieces are produced by (hopefully) well-trained artisans.

Economics is another factor: these artisans have to be paid, not to mention overhead in the workshop/factory (lights, heat/air conditioning). We’re talking middleman and markups here. Advertising in magazines costs a pretty penny, maybe even a shiny dime, since the high-fashion magazines are distributed worldwide and have a massive audience, from the person who can walk into a store and drop $40,000 without blinking an eye, to the kid who cuts the advertisment out and scotch-tapes the bracelet to her wrist, dreaming of the day she can own that piece. Add to that the store needs to make a profit (heat/air, salaries, shoplifting, advertising), and voila, the $90 price tag for two teeny chunks of high-pressurized carbon.

Creativity - you stated you needed a jumpstart sometimes. You have the advantage: in that advertizement, someone (the jewelry designer, the layout artist, the photographer) has already done much of the thinking work for you, making that piece look special and appealing. Not to mention, how many other designs were rejected, either at the drawing board or in the board (of directors) room? It’s hard to put a monetary value on creativity.

Increase the price more if you are looking at one-of-a-kind work. I am a calligrapher; one woman wanted me to do a copy of a large medieval manuscript page and nearly had a conniption when I quoted her $400. I am not a Xerox machine and do not ‘crank out’ copies, despite the fact that I can but choose not to work quickly. The research, the right materials (sheepskin, ground pigments, goldleaf, etc.) and the time to make sure it is done correctly can add up. That particular page took me 18 hours for the lettering (including sobbing and cursing when I found out I left out a word in paragraph 3), and another 27 hours for the hand-painted miniature pictures (and I had to fudge the sheep). Neither she nor I could buy the original page (she to own, me to research), worth far more than my price. Still, once she knew how much had gone into the work, she was content. Not happy, but content.

Also, aren’t a lot of these designs copyrighted and/or patented? I get a catalogue from a jeweler in Maine [if your address is available, I am sending you his website], and he makes a point of including the letters from the patent office as part of the advertising in his catalogues. I have also seen the copyright notation on several other pieces of jewelry advertising. The ‘mystique’ in that can drive up the price. “Wow, nobody else can (legally) make this, so I am going to own something unique.” Yeah, anyone can do a knock-off, but it’s like when you were a kid, getting a real Mattel Barbie doll vs. some no-name 11.5 inch ‘fashion doll’ that sort-of-but-didn’t-quite look like Barbie.

As far as getting into the magazines, there are probably thousands of designers and artisans scratching and clawing to get noticed, not unlike the ‘garage band’ waiting to get the ‘big break’ and the recording contract. Buyers from larger stores can afford to be and must be picky: their job/career/reputation is on the line.

Basically, it’s more than the materials (and I haven’t even gotten into the politics and payoffs [there’s gotta be some there, too]).

And do you have photos or a website? I’d be interested in seeing/purchasing some of your work. Believe me, I can appreciate hand-crafted art. Most of my jewlery is from art shows and individual crafters.

4

I make beaded jewelry as a hobby, mostly amulet bag necklaces. I almost never sell my work, but I do try to keep an eye on the market. Simple amulet bags tend to retail for $40 to $60, with more elaborate ones falling into the $100 to $250 range. A friend was offered $50 on the street for an amulet bag I made for her. “Designer” bags are even more expensive – while I was getting my hair cut I saw a very simple bag in Cosmo or somesuch that was priced at $200. The raw materials for this bag probably did not cost more than $5 to $10.

So why the high markup? Well, there’s labor for one thing. The materials for making beaded jewelry are not too expensive, but it takes a while to turn out an amulet bag. I usually spend two or three days working on one. It probably breaks down to eight to twelve hours of actual work. Then there’s coming up with the design, which is often the hardest part.

If I intended to sell my work regularly then there would also be expenses beyond raw materials, such as advertising and rent on a stand or a fee to a boutique for displaying my jewelry. I would probably want to join a guild or some sort of beading society, attend conventions, and subscribe to trade magazines. Beading does not require special tools or workshop space, but that must be something that people who make other sorts of jewelry need.

As for how designers get noticed, the heck if I know!

5

I make and sell jewelry similar to what AudreyK describes, so this thread has more than a passing interest for me. screech-owl did a great job of outlining all the cost elements.

Here’s my favorite story regarding craftsmanship:

I hear so many asinine comments when I’m sitting in my booth at festivals. “I could make this myself for cheaper!” Yes, but you didn’t order all these materials from multiple specialty bead stores, make a variety of items in different styles, design and make displays, haul the whole mess here, and spend two hours setting up at 5 in the morning so “customers” like you could come here with your kids and browse all the neat stuff while telling the kids, “We’re not buying anything today,” and declaring that $14 for a pair of gold-filled, handmade-glass-bead earrings is “too expensive.”

My markup isn’t even all that much – my average cost of materials is about 30% of selling price, and I include sales tax. As Audrey says, the materials are fairly inexpensive. It’s the creativity that adds value – and effective marketing can add an extra boost to the price. I once read a discussion of marketing arts and crafts that used a handmade patchwork vest as an example. Sell it at a flea market or “craft sale” and you might be able to get $25 for it. But put a designer label on the identical vest and put it on the rack at Neiman-Marcus, and the price goes up to $400.

I’ve gotten some good inspiration about marketing from Barbara Brabec’s book Handmade for Profit: Hundreds of Secrets to Success in Selling Arts and Crafts. One of my resolutions for next year is to avoid any event that has “craft” in the title. I’ve had good success selling at folk music festivals, which Mr. Scarlett and I enjoy attending anyway, so I’ll be doing more of those. I’ll also be putting together a brochure and marketing to stores, so I can just go around to my wholesale customers maybe once a month and restock my display in their stores, rather than doing so many unprofitable one-day events.

AudreyK, I’d love to chat privately about our common interest. I’ve only been at it for two years, so we’re at about the same experience level. I don’t run into many fellow jewelry makers! E-mail me at artwear99@aol.com if you’re interested.

6

:blushing: why thank you, Scarlett67.

And I’d like to apologize for my mother, who would walk around the craft fairs saying, “Oh, you could do that for me at home. I’ll buy you the materials.”, completely oblivious to the withering looks of the crafters.

7

Can’t help you much with the pricing part of things.

As to creativity, allow me to suggest a fabulous book on jewelery design. It is:
Jewelery Making and Design

Augustus F. Rose and Antonio Cirino

Dover Publications , Inc

New York
This book has some of the most beautiful classical patterns and design motifs that I have ever seen. The reason that I recommend it is because most “designer” jewelery looks like crap! I am especially referring to the overpriced and underworked “Art Carved” bullsh!t that I see all of time. Most rings that I see these days are about as attractive as a set of brass knuckles.

Please tell me what is it with so many people these days? The stuff they adorn themselves with is so hideous that I wouldn’t want to be buried with it.

[/rant]

Anyway, if any of you have seen this book please let me know what you think of it.

8

Shiva– 400% markup? Good god.

screech-owl– Thanks so much for your post. It was very informative, just what I was looking for.

I did think of the cost of labor, but your point about the cost of creativity and originality was something that didn’t even occur to me.

I haven’t yet checked my e-mail, but if you’ve already sent me that URL, thank you. I’ll take a look at that site ASAP.

You asked about pics of my jewelry and a website. I do have both, but I need to upload them. When it’s done, I’ll send you the link. Again, many thanks.

Lamia– My bead catalogs have instructions and sell materials for little beaded bags; are those the kind you make? They’re about three or four inches, some square, some rectangular, have a long, skinny strap, and are covered with tiny, shiny seed beads. They’re pretty. I can see how it’d take 12 hours to make one.

Thanks also for your post. We should have, like, a Straight Dope Art Fair, or something, where we can all show our stuff. :slight_smile:

Scarlett67– I’d be delighted to chat with you! I don’t know many other jewelry makers either. I’ll e-mail you as soon as I tear myself away from the boards.

Zenster– Thanks for the book suggestion; I’ll see if amazon.com has it. I’ve been looking for a book of design ideas. As it is now, I just have a composition book that I paste pictures of designs I like and want to duplicate.

9

Scarlett67 (or anyone else interested) - contact me offboard for the jeweler’s website. You’d be amazed at the work and the prices.

10

That sounds about like what I make. Mine have a fringe of beads at the bottom and usually a flap on top to close them with. I love making them – I don’t have much time for it at school, but I really churn them out when I am on vacation!

There’s a virtual one over in MPSIMS. :slight_smile:

11

Lamia-- Neat! I know what you mean about not having time when there’s school… but damn, if I don’t put my paperwork aside in favor of this darn hobby! :slight_smile:

And yep, I’ve set up my own little table at the MPSIMS Craft Fair. There’s some great fudge and cookies there, too!