Latest Jewelry Poll
March 21, 2007 by Tammy Powley
Filed under Jewelry Design Careers
After writing my Jewelry Design Protocol the other day, I decided it was a good topic for a blog poll.
Scroll down and look for the poll: Is it okay to sell others’ designs?
You’ll notice I’ve also included an option for you to add your own answer.
Some jewelry designers allow others to make their designs and sell them as long as they are not mass produced. I guess that is alright as long as you give credit to the designer. Personally, I prefer to do my own stuff. I made a Wendy Witchner bracelet for myself from an article in a magazine and have had lots of requests for one, but haven’t made any to sell. I’ve also had other jewelry designers recognize her design.
Is it okay to step-by-step copy someone else’s design for resale? NO. BUT I think it’s just about impossible to look at someone else’s work, if it’s well done and a piece that you find attractive, and not get an idea or to use some part of it in your own work. I look at jewelry magazine articles just the way I look at maps and recipes in cookbooks – I take what’s there and use it as a starting point, or as suggestions to work with and build upon. That said, I also make it a point to NOT study what someone else has made and is selling too closely (unless I’m interested in buying, of course), just so I don’t have a “brain fart” months later and come up with the exact same idea. I think it’s really sad when someone has to copy another artist’s ideas, but I also think it’s pretty sad if you can’t take what someone else has come up with and not come up with new ideas and ways to put you own spin on it.