I may be able to ‘out’ myself as a jewellery snob … but when I say that I’m a ‘jeweller’ I am sometimes faced with some response like “oh, my wife / sister / cousin likes to make jewellery from beads” or “do you make stuff from beads?” … No, I do not bead.
I am sorry this is probably quite offensive to those who love making jewellery from beads, and there are certainly times I appreciate beadwork – well, perhaps only in the hands of someone I recognise as a ‘contemporary jeweller’ (ie. they also have ‘proper’ jeweller handskills and use beads as a material to express their concept or as an exploration of materiality).
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Update (23rd May, 11pm): artists who bead and who I adore include Elfrun Lach, whose beaded pieces are incredibly gorgeous; and Lucy Hearn, who uses beads in completely unexpected ways… and there are of course many others.
But I’m writing about something quite different here … I’m talking ‘beading’ that means no soldering, no or little sawing or filing, no conceptual development, and the like…
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And I know it’s probably completely unreasonable to respond in this way, but it does annoy me a little to the majority of the public that ‘jeweller’ has been democratised to mean ‘beading’ (anyone can do it, with kits from Spotlight or Lincraft or those bead shops that were popular a few years ago, etc.).
And I’ve only tired of responding to the query recently, having spent the last five years receiving such questions.
I recognise that it is mostly because people who meet me tend to also know about my ‘career’ (I work in the finance sector), so I guess most wouldn’t combine that with genuine (dirty-fingered, behind the bench) goldsmith.
I’m really very polite and gentle, so in these situations I find myself saying that I’ve undertaken a number evening courses and have studied a goldsmith and silversmith degree – yes a ‘proper’ three-year bachelor degree, yes at a university, yes such courses do exist…
But then when asked what I make, I go on to say I make pieces by weaving paper and silver … their eyes glaze over and they get a bit confused. I can see why – doesn’t make sense to most to make jewellery with paper … What is she talking about?? Even I can see that I don’t put forward a good case for most non-art-jewellery-lovers.
And with that it’s official, I fear I am a jewellery snob.
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Update (23rd May, 11pm): maybe I’m just protective of the time I’ve spent almost, but not quite, earning the priviledge to use the word ‘jeweller’ (though I still don’t think it sits comfortably enough yet; I don’t feel quite good enough yet to use the title confidently … it’ll come in time).
And I recognise it’s just that the word ‘jeweller’ has come to have a broader meaning in society … maybe I object to the now-blurred difference between ‘I make jewellery’ and ‘I am a jeweller’…
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Melbourne Jeweller 
Well. Im sad to say that I must be a snob to. Im more a rock snob (being a gemmologist I tend to only like natural stones in jewellery) but recently trying to google jewellery websites I got extremely frustrated with all the beading websites coming back as the results. Your not alone OR being too harsh. I simply think the term ‘jeweller’ has been very liberally used these days sadly.
There are some VERY skilled beaders out there but I think they need to be in a different category than jewellers.
But then again thats just my opinion 🙂
I’ve done a few gallery exhibits and market stalls now, and while I have studied my chosen gemstone extensively I do not have any formal metal smith training.
Your post (and subsequent updates) resonate with me because I feel I don’t fit in either group.
So I guess I am what you would call a beader. What do I call myself? I plan my high end pieces, construct a concept, base my inspiration on their organic shapes, I solder, I file wire ends, make my own findings etc…but I haven’t yet been through the hard slog of a degree. I don’t think I ever will. I will take silver workshops but even then I won’t feel comfortable calling myself a proper jeweller. But am I still just a lowly beader?
Thank you for your comment Ursula.
I wouldn’t say that an absence of a ‘degree’ qualification means you don’t have a right to call yourself a jeweller … not at all in fact. And similarly, going through a degree doesn’t automatically mean you’re qualified as a ‘jeweller’ – moreso that you’ve spent three years investigating something you’re interested in (just like a three year mathematics degree didn’t make me a mathematician; but almost 20 years of working with numbers means I certainly am!).
Making your own findings – absolutely you’re a jeweller in my mind!!
But I take care to say that I feel everyone has the right to call themselves what they want.
My commentary was more on the democratisation of the use of the term ‘jeweller’; I would say that it is now more broadly applied than at any other time in history.
Further though, it was written in response to my growing frustration with experiencing unusually repeated questioning of late!
And I relate to what you’re saying – I personally hold term ‘jeweller’ in pretty high esteem (of course that’s a personal choice), so don’t yet feel comfortable making that claim very often; but paradoxically, I do sometimes; perhaps it all depends on the context of the conversation…
What do you write in the ‘occupation’ box when you fill in your customs slip when you fly international?
Great question Zoe!!
I’m a qualified actuary, so that’s what I write .. I have mentioned before I am a mathematician!
And I’m not making a living from jewellery – I hardly make that many pieces – yet…
What do you write?? Super-fabulous-lady-about-town perhaps?
The last time I travelled to NZ I wrote ‘Jeweller’, and it felt pretty good, you could say I was almost proud to write it. But who knows what i’ll write next time. Balancing, balancing!
That’s awesome! Jealous … i’d absolutely be proud to write that!
I’m hoping to write something like ‘maker’ … planning to do that (legitimately) sometime before I’m 50 …
oh I like ‘Maker’, I might have to steal that title. I do also like ‘Doer”.
Q: what do you make?
A: Things.
Q What do you do?
A: Stuff.
Love. It.
We were explicitly forbidden to use beads in my jewellery degree, whether or not we used them conceptually, or even if they were only a minor part of the total work.
The majority of jewellery that exists in the world is not stuff we learned at uni. It doesn’t recognise concept or craftspersonship for its reason for being. So really it’s no wonder that people don’t “get” what a university-trained jeweller does, or why. Which is why I tend to explain what I did at uni as “art jewellery”. People seem to get it when I phrase it like that.
Hi Prue – that’s amazing that beads were explicity forbidden.
I’ve also recently started using the term art-jewellery … it seems just vague enough for the uninterested and enough for to start a discussion with the interested…
Hi Karen 🙂 They would have been implicitly forbidden, probably, but I made the mistake in first year first semester of including beads in a mixed-technique piece (“What is that? Get rid of it!”). I’m not sure how we managed to get The Rules articulated in my year, but I do know the class two years behind me wasn’t so lucky. One girl in that year found out the very, very hard way when she submitted a neckpiece reeking of epoxy…
For reference, The Rules were:
1) No beads.
2) No glue.
3) Each piece must contain metal.
We had similar unspoken but reasonably clear guidelines:
– no glue: but this did change as we progressed through the years and depending on our project we could get away with selected ‘chemical bonding’
– no bought findings: all findings to be hand made
– no bought chain: which meant many used thread for pendants
We didn’t have the metal rule – our uni was pretty broad-minded about materials …
Interesting indeed … any other rules I’ve forgotten RMIT alumni / students?
What about other places of study, any other or similar rules?
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