Five Questions to Ask Yourself When Commissioning Jewelry

02 Apr Five Questions to Ask Yourself When Commissioning Jewelry

Jewelry is personal.

Think about it. I am sure you can imagine a scene in a movie when the woman runs back into a burning house just to get the locket given to her by her grandmother when her baby boy was born.

Can you see it?

Well, okay. Maybe not everyone would run back into the fire to get the locket. But I promise you she’d look for the locket in the rubble and ashes, and she’d be really happy to find it.

There are examples throughout history and literature of jewelry carrying special meaning. I’d bet there are examples in your own life and in your family of wedding rings and lockets and pendants that are special not because of their market value but because of their story. What’s the association with the piece? Whose was it? When and why did they acquire it? How did it strengthen them, honor them, enrich their life?

Creating those personal pieces

The personal nature of jewelry is why I do what I do. As much as I adore beauty and an artistic aesthetic, the stories are the foundation, and the stories are what create the meaning in every piece.

When these special pieces are custom made with the story in mind, the narrative is captured in the piece itself. I have created hundreds of pieces like this for my clients. What this means is that the piece becomes a prompt for the story. When the piece is noticed, the story will be told. Again, and again.

“The circle in this pendant is my late husband’s wedding band. We were married for 35 years. The emerald is one that we mined on a trip to the mountains. That was our last trip together before he died….”

Emerald Memory for Cynthia & Dane

Sometimes my clients know exactly what they want, and sometimes all they have when they come to me is the story. And that’s perfectly fine.

The story is your job. The design is my job.

So, how do you go about getting something like that made? How do you pare down all those details to get to the heart of the story? When it’s time to honor a story with a wearable piece of art jewelry, how do you get there?

After years of doing commissioned work and hundreds of successful projects, I have noticed a theme that governs the process. All of this goes into the story, which goes into the piece.

Start with these questions:

1. For whom?

Are you interested in having a piece made for yourself, your partner, your child, a friend, a family member? Herein is the reason we call this person a “loved one.”

2. What’s the nature of your relationship?

Assuming you’re thinking of having a piece made for someone other than yourself…. Are you close every day? Or, are you connected by history? When you look ahead, do you see this person sharing your journey? Or do you recognize that you are the person you are today because of the history you’ve shared with this person?

Thinking of having something made just for you? Something that would exist only for you? I love projects like that… projects that are all about someone honoring themselves like no one else can.

3. Why now?

Is there a milestone coming up? Has this person recently completed something terrific? Or, is it just time to do something special?

4. Favorite memory?

Is there a story you tell over and over again? Something that really captures the essence of it all? When you close your eyes and think of yourself or this person, where are you? What’s happening? Why is this all important?

5. Parameters?

Now, bring it all home to the context of jewelry. Are there any wearing preferences to consider? And, looking back at your story, what are the specific details? Colors? Numbers? Dates? Shapes?

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So, if you’re thinking that you have to sit down and write pages and pages to answer all these questions, you don’t. Or, at least, as far as I’m concerned, you don’t. These questions are just designed to get you thinking. Reach out to us if you’d like to learn more, or if you’d like to share your ideas about having something special created.

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Jewelry is personal. It’s such an intimate art form, not only because of the story, but also because we wear it on our bodies. It’s with us wherever we go.

You are not ordinary. Your story is not ordinary. Nor should your jewelry be ordinary.

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