Guild of Jewellery Designers

[mizgeorge]

Today sees the launch of the Guild of Jewellery Designers – a new resource for jewellery designers of all styles and abilities, established by a group of UK designer artisans ranging from part time enthusiasts to full time professionals to offer support and networking to anyone who’s ever been frustrated by the lack of a UK site to support and showcase our work.

This new site is not a forum. It’s designed to be a single point of reference for jewellery designers of all styles and every level of ability. With articles covering techniques, products, designs and tutorials for beginners and experts alike, as well as book reviews, galleries and hints and tips.

The guild is a collaboration. One that we all hope you’ll be part of. You can use the resources, or help to grow them – submit articles, add to the galleries, share your experiences and raise your own profile at the same time.

There will be other exciting developments in the future, but the initial membership is free to all. Simply register and join in. To make things even easier for you, you can even save having to type in the whole address – just use gojd.co.uk for quick access.

The Guild website – The Guild of Jewellery Designers is now live – and we will be marking the occasion with the first competiton and offer. I am immensely proud to be part of this new venture, and very much hope that you’ll join us there.

George

[Di Sandland]

happy birthday to the Guild - and many happy returns

[MuranoSilver]

George from my own personal viewpoint I appreciate the effort taken to make a site like that but I prefer the forum approach for it's interaction.
Would it not be more useful to add the Lars and Ingrid forum to the Guild site (I think Geti owns them both so it would be quite easy).
There are already so many established people in that area, so I really hope it goes well for you.
e.g There are "Guilds" that folk can join which give definite member benefits
e.g. The British Jewellers Association
Association of Contemporary Jewellery
and I know there are loads more like shops and stores association, market traders association (I think) etc etc.
Re reference sites:
I've found some of the best ones are paid for - either via advertising or by subscription.
(unfortunately the way of the world) this is a good example of one....
Have you seen Jewellery Making On-Line :At the Bench it's a fantastic training site run by Andrew Berry
it's £99 for the year (theres a monthly option too) It has excellent material and although it's early days it looks useful ~
I'm going to sign up when I'm back from the states as that works out not much different from some of my magazine subs!

Excellent inspiration for the Guild site
Once again Good Luck with the site and I hope you get loads of Tutorials!
Nic xx

[Lisa Quinn]

George from my own personal viewpoint I appreciate the effort taken to make a site like that but I prefer the forum approach for it's interaction.
Would it not be more useful to add the Lars and Ingrid forum to the Guild site (I think Geti owns them both so it would be quite easy).
There are already so many established people in that area, so I really hope it goes well for you.
e.g There are "Guilds" that folk can join which give definite member benefits
e.g. The British Jewellers Association
Association of Contemporary Jewellery
and I know there are loads more like shops and stores association, market traders association (I think) etc etc.
Re reference sites:
I've found some of the best ones are paid for - either via advertising or by subscription.
(unfortunately the way of the world) this is a good example of one....
Have you seen Jewellery Making On-Line :At the Bench it's a fantastic training site run by Andrew Berry
it's £99 for the year (theres a monthly option too) It has excellent material and although it's early days it looks useful ~
I'm going to sign up when I'm back from the states as that works out not much different from some of my magazine subs!

Excellent inspiration for the Guild site
Once again Good Luck with the site and I hope you get loads of Tutorials!
Nic xx

Watch this space Nic, we have many new, exciting and innovative themes and ideas which we will be introducing in the future, to provide support, advice and "real" benefits to members.

Thanks for your support, it is good to know that the months of hard work by the committee is appreciated by fellow makers.

[mizgeorge]

Thanks Nic
Without going into a huge amount of detail, this is a very different resource to a forum, and will have an exciting range of member benefits in months to come. Whilst there are a couple of existing associations, they are aimed at a very different audience, and feel far from inclusive to many existing, new or part time jewellery designers, whether conventionally trained or self-taught, and we felt it was important to have a resource that welcomed all levels of skill and experience.

It's also very different to Andrew's excellent video tutorial site, which seems to be aimed at jobbing jewellers and repairs than designer makers. The guild isn't owned by any individual, but is a collaborative effort, and aims to have more of a wiki style than the traditional approach. There are far too many tutorial sites and blogs which simply instruct and tell you how to do things in the author's own 'right' way, rather than allowing for the sharing of experience, alternative approaches and unconventional solutions which may work better for many.

I'm incredibly proud to be part of the team behind the Guild, and firmly believe it's going to be a huge success.

Thanks for your good wishes.

[andrew_berry]

It's also very different to Andrew's excellent video tutorial site, which seems to be aimed at jobbing jewellers and repairs than designer makers. .

I have to correct you there, At The Bench has many tutorials relating to jewellery making and design. We already have 85 videos waiting to go live. These include project downloads, jewellery promotion, marketing, display etc. In fact there are going to be more videos on creation than repair.

[rainbow]

It all sounds fab and I shall as a newbie be working my way through all the links mention :-)

[Emerald]

Well as a Jeweller with more erhem years experience than i care to mention in Public i know where i will be heading gojd.co.uk x

[Tabby66]

Have just signed up! looks very interesting to me :-)

[mizgeorge]

I have to correct you there, At The Bench has many tutorials relating to jewellery making and design. We already have 85 videos waiting to go live. These include project downloads, jewellery promotion, marketing, display etc. In fact there are going to be more videos on creation than repair.

My apologies Andrew. I hadn't realised that there were tutors beyond you and Ray involved. As I said elsewhere, I wish you great success with the new site - I'm sure it will be as popular as your excellent youtube videos have been.