FLUENCY IN JEWELRY DESIGN: The Design Manifesto

The Design Manifesto

First (and foremost):
Jewelry is art only as it is worn.

Second:
Jewelry should reflect the artist’s intent Creativity is not merely Doing. It’s Thinking, as well.

Third:
Jewelry is something affected by, and in return, affects the contexts within which it is introduced. The purpose of jewelry design is to communicate a designer’s idea in a way which others understand and will come to desire. Jewelry is not designed in a vacuum; rather, it results from the interaction of the artist and his or her various audiences, and is communicative at its core.

Fourth:
Jewelry design should be seen as a constructive process involving the balancing act of maintaining both shape (structure) as well as good movement, drape and flow (support); jewelry should be seen as more architectural than craft or art alone.

Fifth:
Design choices are best made and strategically managed at the boundary between jewelry and person, where the artist can best determine when enough is enough, and the piece is most resonant.

Sixth:
Jewelry must succeed aesthetically, functionally, and contextually, and, as such, jewelry design choices must reflect the full scope of all this, if jewelry is to be judged as finished, successful and, most importantly, resonant.