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geti-titanium
02-12-2009, 08:36 PM
You saw it here first folks - the announcement of the start of the most important jewellery event of the century - with prizes too! :)

This is probably the most ambitious project I've ever undertaken. What started as something small is snowballing into quite a large and hugely entertaining project.

As the title suggests, I'm organising a jewellery design competition. It's an open competition meaning that anybody who feels they have a talent for jewellery design can enter, from hobbyist jewellery makers (such as many on this forum), professional jewellery makers and jewellery students etc.

I'm working on the website which should be live next week and ready to start taking entries. The brief is simple:

Design a piece of jewellery!

1 category - 1 winner and 2 runners-up.

It can be anything, but it must have commercial appeal. The piece will have to be designed to be produced to a certain trade budget (yet to be decided) and you will need to show your calculations as to how you arrived within that budget (material costs + man hours at a set rate). Other overheads won't be taken into consideration at this point because everyone will have different figures.

I am hoping to whittle down the entries to 30 finalists and then, hopefully the designs will be rendered to near picture perfect quality for a public vote.
This public vote is purely for fun because, on a public website, polls are open to abuse and visitors could vote more than once on separate occasions for the same piece.

The judges decision is the one that will count based on design, accuracy of costing and commercial appeal.

I will not be a taking part as a judge so any flirting or flattery directed at me on this forum, although appreciated, will not get you anywhere - but hey! have a go anyway :)

As a final stage of the contest, the top three designs will be produced by the entrants for final examination and a winner announced.

Prizes in the pipeline include, for the winner - a full ecommerce website with free hosting for life and domain name for the first year built by GETi and hard cash shared by the winner and two runners up.

As more sponsors are gained, hopefully the prize pot will increase in value. It currently stands at £600 which includes a contribution kindly offered by Adam Hunter on behalf of Cooksons as a main sponsor.

That's the outline for the event, please get your thinking caps on in the meantime and start designing. You can design the piece in any metal, and present it in either digital or paper format. On the back of a serviette will still be accepted, but, in my experience, you only get out what you put in!

Thought, questions and opinions greatly appreciated.

bustagasket
02-12-2009, 08:43 PM
wow there should be an impressive number of entries from the good peoples on this forum. I am loooking forward to seeing them

geti-titanium
02-12-2009, 08:48 PM
yet the outlining brief sounds as if we have to design something to be mass produced,

No - an item can be designed to be made commercially without being mass produced - you need to show that you can design jewellery that can also be made at a profit - otherwise you don't stay in business.

caroleallen
02-12-2009, 09:02 PM
Gawd! :eek:

geti-titanium
02-12-2009, 09:05 PM
Gawd!

erm... is that a good Gawd! or a bad Gawd! ?:confused:

caroleallen
02-12-2009, 09:07 PM
It's a scary Gawd.

Mila Jewellery
02-12-2009, 10:45 PM
oooh sounds interesting - I'd be up for this :)

lesley
02-12-2009, 11:02 PM
Interested..........as a spectator. :)

caroleallen
03-12-2009, 06:56 AM
So can any part of it be mass produced, ie etched or lasered? Is the main criteria the cost or the design? Can any equipment available to us be used?

geti-titanium
03-12-2009, 07:04 AM
So can any part of it be mass produced, ie etched or lasered? Is the main criteria the cost or the design? Can any equipment available to us be used?

You can incorporate ready made 'off the shelf' components into the design and take advantage of technology available as a service through other companies. Cost and design would have equal importance.

agent_44
03-12-2009, 08:14 AM
Wow! Alan - that sounds like fun :) Not sure I'd be up to the challenge and website wouldn't be much use to me, but cash would :D :D :D

Somehow though, I think I will be too chicken!!

snow_imp
03-12-2009, 09:22 AM
I think I'll hold of on this one and cheer from the sidelines. =D>

AlexandraBuckle
03-12-2009, 09:27 AM
Hmmm, don't really need a website. I guess its the taking part that counts anyway.... Cash would be nice tho' and I could donate my website prize I guess...

I'll get my thinking cap on and see if I can think of anything worthy, though kinda lost without some kind of theme to work to. Any chance of their being a theme?

The Dragon
03-12-2009, 09:59 PM
I'm really tempted by this ... but only because I would love to have an assessment of how my commercial accumun is coming along. I have no experience on that side of things but I'd feel uncomfortable about entering it for that reason.


:snow:


It is a great idea though Geti! :X

geti-titanium
03-12-2009, 10:00 PM
It's worth a go just for the experience.

shelley
05-02-2010, 01:10 PM
how do i enter

Petal
05-02-2010, 04:50 PM
how do i enter

I imagine you come up with a design and costings and post it here?

Ominicci
05-02-2010, 05:33 PM
Alan says in the first post that he is designing a new website for the entries.