Thank You to all the Free Spirits and Independent Thinkers and Doers of the World!!!
I had a call the other day from a customer wanting a Custom Ring, with some very specific images on it. He found me through a “matchmaking” website called Thumbtack that pointed him to several jewelers. We visited for about 15 minutes and in the call, he shared with me that all (not sure how many that means) of the other jewelers with whom he spoke, used CAD imaging and printing. If they did not have the CAD equipment, they would be sending the artwork “out”. He said I was the only one who specified “Artisan Hand Made Jewelry” and that all the work was done “In House”.
I had to let that sink in for a while after our conversation.
The World is Changing at a rapid rate.
Old Values (Manners and Thinking for yourself) are being discarded.
It is impossible to be a Custom Metalsmith and NOT know of CAD, 3D imaging and 3D printing. The software and equipment is being pushed hard by the developers to capitalize on their products. This trend towards artificially produced Jewelry is further reinforced by all the cheap jewelry available online. People have even come to believe that Stainless Steel is a Precious Metal that is able to be sized and repaired.
With the technologies that have become integrated into Metalsmithing, there has also emerged a hard line between the two ideologies. Here they are in a Nutshell:
One creates because of the Process to the end Result (not always Fast).
One makes for the Money.
People who cannot size a Ring to save their Life are calling themselves “Jewelers”.
The Public is being Whitewashed as to what is Natural and Real.
SO, I Praise and Applaud the Free Thinkers and Spirits of the World who refuse to blindly accept fake materials and robot produced Jewelry with No Soul.
Patricia Riley Metalsmith 