MJSA Custom Design Advantage
Click here to request a complimentary copy of MJSA Custom Jeweler.
In everything they buy, from sneakers to soft drinks to jewelry, consumers today want products that they can customize to reflect their personal tastes. This is particularly true of Generation Y, that 76+ million crowd of consumers in their twenties and early thirties who are not afraid to spend money. "Younger people are spending disproportionately more on jewelry than their predecessors did," says industry analyst Ken Gassman—but they want items that are uniquely for them.
Which is why custom design now ranks with bridal among the top categories contributing to retail sales of jewelry, and why more and more retailers are adding custom design services to their offerings. To help them capitalize on this trend, MJSA has developed a package of benefits that better enable its members to work with customers in creating jewelry that speaks to them.
Through our InfoResearch program, members can submit specific design-related queries for MJSA staff answer. To help in this effort, the association has formed the MJSA Custom Design Advisory Council, comprising renowned jeweler-designers and technical analysts (see list below).
Members also receive a free subscription to MJSA Custom Jeweler, a quarterly publication that presents current design trends and demonstrates how custom jewelers are capitalizing on them. It includes information about new CAD/CAM technologies, countertop custom-design systems for retail stores, and marketing and selling strategies related to customized jewelry.
In addition, members can request free back articles from both MJSA Custom Jeweler and MJSA Journal through the MJSA Article Archive. MJSA’s fully vetted articles cover all aspects of custom design.
MJSA also offers listings of member companies offering CAD design, casting, engraving, and other contract services needed by custom designers, and also provides information on how to best work with subcontractors.
To learn more, e-mail MJSA, or submit a membership application to begin receiving all of MJSA’s benefits.
The MJSA Custom Design Advisory Council
The following MJSA members have agreed to share their expertise in custom design:
• Steve Adler, president of A3DM. A specialist in CAD/CAM technologies for the jewelry industry, he is a frequent speaker at the Santa Fe Symposium on Jewelry Manufacturing and at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Rapid Prototype Association.
• Gary Dawson is a master goldsmith and former owner of a studio specializing in custom design. He is a frequent contributor to MJSA Journal and has delivered seminars and presentations at AGTA GemFair, Portland Jewelry Symposium, and the Santa Fe Symposium.
• Lisa Krikawa,he founder, designer, and CEO of Krikawa Jewelry Designs Inc. Her designs have won numerous awards, and in 2009 the company was named one of “America’s Best Jewelers” by National Jeweler magazine.
• Lee Krombholz, the owner of Krombholz Jewelers, a third-generation jewelry studio. He has won several major design awards for his "heirlooms of the future," including awards from the Columbus Jewelry Show and MJSA.
• Mark Maxwell is an instructor at the Gemological Institute of America and the proprietor of Mark Maxwell Designer/Goldsmith LLC, which specializes in custom enameled and hand-engraved pieces. He was named a Centurion Emerging Designer in 2008.
• Mark Schneider of Mark Schneider Designs. Renowned for his clean, contemporary lines, he is one of a few living designers to have a piece of jewelry on permanent display in the Smithsonian Institution Gem and Mineral Hall
• Greg Stopka of Jewelsmiths. A specialist in custom design and repair, he is a pioneer in the use of CAD/CAM and "virtual inventory," selling computer-generated images of jewelry.
• Jim Tuttle of Green Lake Jewelry Works. Known for his advocacy of making custom design "easy, simple, and fun," he has presented at the Gemvision Syposium, The Chicago Instore Jewelry Show, the Portland Symposium, MJSA Expo New York, and other industry events.