Why hand-crafted-jewellery

There is a difference between cast custom jewellery and hand crafted jewellery, custom made jewellery let me explain

To spend a whole lot of time creating a custom made piece of jewellery, that is perfect in style and workmanship in a fine finish, then reproducing it exactly the same from a mould which can be trade marked has its advantages but is not custom made jewellery, but cast custom jewellery made in a fraction of the time, which has its own market appeal of more product more money, there is lots of this type of jewellery on the market labeled hand made but is not.

Cast verses Hand Crafted Jewellery

Totally cast or partially cast jewellery is softer and easy to bend, or wear away quicker, therefore a custom made piece of jewellery because of the way it is made is a much better quality and longer lasting piece of Jewellery than single cast, or joined cast jewellery.

True custom made jewellery made by an experienced craftsman, is a ‘one of’ hand made piece never to be remade the same, even if it is the same style or design, same size and shaped stones, or different types of stones which may alter the overall look, but still never to be repeated is why we make jewellery. It is the joy of crafting an item of jewellery from a solid bar of metal into a creation pleasing to the eye of maker and wearer that enhances the gem that is chosen to be the focal point of the jewellery is why we handcraft our jewellery.

Our custom made jewellery that is rolled and hammered and joined together gives character to a piece of jewellery that was made under tight time and budget restrictions. This is by no means an excuse for shoddy workmanship but rather a skill of bringing a piece into its existence where normally out of reach of an average wage earner, this might displease some perfectionists, but you know the saying you get what you pay for, don’t expect a Rolls Royce for the price of a Mini. For the perfectionists who want top quality finish then they should not expect to pay a low price for workmanship. Usually there are different standards of finished product depending on the budget restrictions of the customer for the same piece of jewellery. Remember for the perfectionists who want top quality finish then they should not expect to pay a low price for that workmanship, this annoys the jeweller no end who wants to be paid for the quality of work they provide but if a customer wants a custom made piece of jewellery at a price which they can afford that has to look right but may have small joining blemishes then we can help you.

If you are looking for top quality high finished no blemishes or flaws then we can recommend you to those high end manufacturing jewellers but you will pay for their quality of workmanship. To many people are looking for ‘bargain’s’ in the high end jewellery market sorry this does not happen.

Customers who demand a cheaper price to have a piece of jewellery handcrafted don't realize they have compromised the quality of their jewellery. This creates annoyance if the customer is picky and wants a well made piece all because there was not enough time allocated to make an exquisite piece to be proud of . Unfortunately, in this commercialized world we live in with peoples' right to make a fair days pay for a fair days work. it is becoming much harder as there is these big retail businesses who are selling inferior quality jewellery for a fraction of the price that puts professionals like myself in a very compromised position to make cheaper jewellery to stay in business. That can lead to customers not coming back because they think the quality has been compromised being the jewellers fault. The underlying problem is that the customer was the one who asked for a cheaper price unwittingly putting professional jewellers out of business. Ultimately, all there will be left is the big retail shops selling low quality that doesn't last the test of time.

The big question to you is, do you want this to happen??

People in central Europe, such as Germany, carry utmost respect for the jewellery artisan to have an exclusive piece of jewellery made. They treasure their jewellery very well. There are also quite strict standards on jewellers' qualifications, skills and expertise. Unfortunately, here in Australia, many people don't value professional artisans because of being subjected to cheap imported, mass produced articles and our skilled expertise has been severely compromised over the years with a massive lack of federal government input and funding into apprenticeships to set a high standard of skill and professionalism into this very old craft. Instead, the government has continued to lower jewellery tariffs which has done unsurmountable damage to our crafts reputation.

When working with a customer to custom make their jewellery we prefer a hands on approach, this means that at a certain stage of manufacturing we ask the customer in to view the jewellery to make sure that what the customer pictured in their own heads, compared with the jewellery in front of them at the first stage is what they wanted, if not we need to work out the wrinkles so we can get it right the first time and not have to remake which is a waste of time and money, (we would prefer that in all cases as this is the best result) for most people cannot see a drawing in metal like a trained jeweller can. This process may take a couple of viewings but in the long run both customer and jeweller are happy and the customer will show it off to all their friends.