Chainmaille — Sterling Silver Handmade Jewelry Shop

What is your Design “Life Style?”

I just make jewelry! What does this mean—a design Life Style???

So many times, I hear a jeweler who uses that phrase Life Style, without really understanding what it means. —but what is it really? Let’s dig into it!

The definition of Lifestyle is the way in which a person or group lives, and Life style in retail, means denoting advertising or products designed to appeal to a consumer by association with a desirable lifestyle. Read that a couple of times. Now consider the jewelry you are making—-what would its Lifestyle label be?

For example, take a look at the photo for this blog post. How would you describe this person’s Life Style on the basis of the Jewelry she is wearing? The Large stone on the bracelet has a bohemian look, which can conjure up being someone with a free spirit, not afraid of anything, and yet she combines it with fine jewelry—denoting some wealth, but even the fine jewelry is casual. So you might surmise that this person loves the outdoors, is bold, likes the finer things in life, and is casual most of the time. The photo makes you believe that all of these things are true at once, and you almost “know” the life style of this person.

When you are making jewelry to sell, or for friends, consider what their lifestyle is. If they have a minimalist lifestyle, usually they would like simple, smaller pieces. If they have a luxury lifestyle, they would mostly wear diamonds and expensive gemstones, in white gold Yellow gold, or silver. The quality is important. If they have an outdoors, hiking style, earth stones are popular with bold designs meant to show off their earthy tendencies. If they are moms of young children, casual jewelry will often be the lifestyle of choice with some really nice jewelry to go out on the town for that once in awhile date to a fine restaurant and dancing. If they are farmers, they probably don’t wear jewelry during the day, but want simple pieces when those unexpected formal occasions come up, or for church on Sunday. Then there is the artist lifestyle that looks for the crazy, possible weird, one of a kind designs.

There are so many different life styles, too many to mention here. But a jeweler who is designing to sell, they must consider their market, and determine which life style they would sell to. It helps you stay in focus when designing, and to keep that beautiful voice that makes your jewelry stand out. You can never be everything to every one.

One more note, when you photograph your jewelry, be sure the photos represent the lifestyle you have chosen very well—i.e. Western Jewelry might be worn by someone in jeans and a cowboy hat….You get the idea!