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If you’re looking to grow your jewelry business, wholesale is one of the best strategies you can pursue because it allows you to be proactive in your approach. Armed with the right tools, you can actually reach out to stores and ask them to carry your products, which can yield results much faster than waiting around for customers to find you online or hoping the weather will be perfect for your next weekend craft show.

It’s high excitement for Becky Scheffler and me, Kevin Whitmore.  We are the gemstone buyers for Rio Grande, and we are departing on our first ever trip to Morocco, to visit our supplier of amethyst.  Amethyst is a purple form of quartz, quite popular, and named as the birthstone for people born in the month of February.  Rio has been selling amethyst for decades.  But just last year we started offering Moroccan amethyst, which is special – Moroccan amethyst comes out of the ground purple, no heating needed.  Further, we can document the “mine to market” path this gem takes.

For the last 15 years, the Saul Bell Design Award competition has challenged jewelry makers and designers to create one-of-a-kind pieces that showcase their talents, make them reach for greater heights in creativity and push the boundaries of what is possible in jewelry design and metal work. This year, the competition has expanded its scope with two new categories designed for jewelers who make fine and fashion jewelry collections designed to be worn every day and sold in galleries and retail stores across the country.

In the previous three parts of my series on Designing a Jewelry Collection, I’ve talked about what a collection is, design principles, designing for your customer and the difference between being a designer and being and artist. For this final post, I wanted to talk to the designers of jewelry collections themselves. I asked a bunch of jewelry designers to share their thoughts and goals in their own words when designing jewelry for their customers. Here is what they so graciously shared with me. “I am in the wonderful position that my design is inspired by my travel on the luxury ships that...