Silver Charms from Thailand and Bali sold in the USA support the Asian silversmiths who make them, and the US designers who incorporate them into their own jewelry. Through our Micro-loan program, they also support creative endeavors in Africa. Evelyn Kafui Ahianyo is a mask carver in Ghana who recently received a loan from us. She designs the masks one by one and decorates them with paint, recycled glass, beads, brass and other materials.
“I sit and draw the mask creatively, and come up with the colors that will make it stand out. I’m also good at observing nature and this comes to bear when I have to sit and come up with designs after the mask has been carved. Although my masks have cultural references, I try to enhance the looks. In Ghana, mask are seen to have spiritual beliefs attached to them, so most people wouldn’t like to even hold them. But with the new coloring and designs, people are now comfortable with masks and are ready to learn more about the history associated with them.”
Ahianyo may not realize it but she has a lot in common with mask carvers in Bali who have their own village, Mas. I used to love sitting with friends while they painted their masks with intricate designs. I tried a few myself and made a total mess of it!
Ahianyo’s masks are for sale at Novica.
As jewelry designers it’s important to stay current regarding trends in sterling silver and bronze charms jewelry. I like to peruse the web and see what’s being offered at places like Barney’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Net-a-Porter, and Ylang23. It’s interesting to notice changes and new trends. One thing I’ve been noticing lately is how many well-known jewelry designers are working in bronze as an alternative to sterling silver. While there will always be a market for sterling silver, there is definitely a new market opening up for bronze as well. I also noticed a lot of silver and gold plated bronze options.
Stay ahead of the trends with Nina Designs’ new line of bronze jewelry charms – in solid bronze, silver plated bronze and gold plated bronze.
Center of Truth Earrings with Nina Designs Bronze Charm
Some of my favorite high end bronze jewelry I just found:
Ashley Pittman at Bergdorf Goodman
Imogen Belfield’s Gold Plated Bronze Nugget Ring at Not Just a Label.com
Barse ‘Mayan’ Bronze Stretch Bracelet at Nordstrom’s
Mania Mania Immortals Ring at Zimmermann
Pamela Love at Barney’s
Love Heals at Neiman Marcus
Maria Nilsdotter’s Giant bronze spider ring at Brown’s of London
Catherine Michiels at Ylang23
Ashley Pittman at Bergdorf Goodman
Honeycomb Earrings with Nina Designs Bronze Charm
Catherine Michiels at Ylang23
Hoop da Loop Earrings
Sterling silver hoop earrings lend the perfect flirty vibe to any summer outfit or activity. I love wearing large hoops with bright colored gemstones and silver charms. A wonderful activity to pair with these vibrant earrings is Hoop Yoga. This Summer I’ve been including more and more yoga into my daily routine. I recently stumbled upon a great article in Yoga Journal about hoop yoga: a mix of dance, hula hooping, and yoga. The practice is fun, creative, and requires tons of balance! This is the perfect summer fun activity for a lazy day at the park. Grab a hoop, or make your own, and get creative with your practice. Start by moving your hips, flowing into a groove and then move into triangle pose, with the hoop spinning around your outstretched arm. Have fun, be creative, and don’t be afraid to laugh!
Be careful when shopping for sterling silver charms at tradeshows these days. I was perusing booths at an InterGem Show last week and noticed vendors are getting quite creative about what they’re calling base metals. For instance, one booth was selling nickel and calling it German silver. While this may technically be legal, it is definitely misleading. I’m certain there are similar terms out there that are just as misleading. Please be careful, especially in terms of allergies and high levels of lead and cadmium content. If you are unsure of what something is be sure to ask.
For more than 25 years, Nina Designs has been designing unique sterling silver charms and beads. But with the price of silver doubling in just one year, we know times are changing. We understand many of our customers want an alternative to sterling, and that as jewelry designers you’ve had to make some difficult business and financial decisions. We have done the same.
After much consideration and research, we developed Natural Bronze, Silver Plated Bronze, and Gold Plated Bronze as low cost alternatives to our sterling silver and gold vermeil. Our bronze is a high quality alloy of copper and tin we sourced from Italy. With our bronze collection you get it all: the beauty and quality you’ve come to expect from Nina Designs, and for a fraction of the cost of sterling silver!
Learn more about our bronze atBronze FAQs, and about how Nina Designs complies with laws regulating metal jewelry.
Discover what's new at Nina Designs!
Silver Pendants are a main course here at Nina Designs but we also serve up Microloans. We believe strongly in supporting women artisans all over the world by helping them expand their businesses. For this endeavor, we have partnered with Novica to identify qualified artists and administer the loans. They also provide a thriving global marketplace where the artists sell their work.
Nyoman Nadri creates robes, bed covers, pillowcases, sarongs and shawls in Bali, Indonesia. She specializes in Batik, a resist dying technique that uses wax to create intricate designs. In doing her work, Nadri is inspired by people’s needs. Her customers come to her and request the kind of motifs they desire, and bed cover or sarong sizes they need. Selling through Novica has given her access to a larger market and allowed her to hire more women to work with her.
“Novica has had a positive impact on my family, as well as with the families of the women working with me. It means that we can have hope. We make the batik robes and we know that by selling them through Novica we can have a steady income to provide for our families”
Nadri will use her loan to stock up on white textiles and dyes for her batik work.
Batik Robe
Ursula Earrings
Summer in Berkeley, CA, has finally arrived, and our warm-weather sterling silver charms are flying off the shelves. I have been pulling orders filled with
ocean charms,
mermaid charms, and
flip-flop charms, and it has been making me itch for some summery jewelry of my own.
In anticipation of evening outdoor parties, I wanted to design fun, flirty earrings, but keep them edgy. I chose our gold vermeil starfish bead for the focal point, then picked a couple dainty pearls and paired them with our funky 3 circle link from our black silver collection. I love the contrasting elements in these earrings. They make me feel both girly and tough.
As a new jewelry designer, I am interested in how “seasoned” designers decide what direction to take a new jewelry line, and how far ahead the planning and purchasing happens. Do you plan an entire summer line while you’re shut in over the winter, or do you wait to see what styles are hot as spring trees begin to bud? What new pieces are you excited to use in your next collection?
Silver Pendants and shoes are not so different. They are both coveted by women and highly addictive. That is why we chose Delivering Happiness by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh to be the first book we read in our Nina Designs business book club. Most of the staff read the book and then went out to lunch to discuss our thoughts and how we could use Zappos ideas to improve Nina Designs. We were very impressed with their commitment to WOW customers with their service and the idea that every phone call is an opportunity to bond with customers. The concept that “your culture is your brand” also resonated and we liked their communication strategy, “Be real and use your best judgement”. We decided to formalize our Core Values so everyone could use them to guide decision making and evaluate performance.
Despite the similarities, the element of design is a key difference between our company and theirs. Zappos sells the same shoes everyone else sells while Nina Designs creates new designs that are unique to our company. Our silver pendants and jewelry parts also become part of larger creations, facilitating our customer’s own creative vision. That lead us to a key insight. While the goal at Zappos is to Deliver Happiness, at Nina Designs we strive to Deliver Inspiration.
What do you deliver?
Peep toes from Zappos
Peep toes from Nina Designs
The randomly selected winner of the $40 Nina Designs jewelry photography giveaway is Lisa Michele, comment #3. Congrats and thanks to everyone who offered jewelry photography tips. Jewelry photography has become a necessary skill for all jewelry designers who sell online. And while it is challenging at first, once you get started you will pick up the skill and have fun. I believe if you can make jewelry, then you can take gorgeous photos of it too.
Start with these simple tips I compiled from the original post on Jewelry Photography. Many helpful tips were offered, so be sure to read the comments. What I summarize below are the recurring tips many readers offered:
1) Use diffused lighting. Most readers recommend taking your photos in natural, indirect light. Remember jewelry has a lot of reflective shiny surfaces that bounces light everywhere. That is why you want to use diffused lighting, which you can also achieve using a light box.
2) Use the macro setting on your camera so you can shoot photos really close to the object.
3) Use basic backgrounds. You don’t want to detract from your jewelry. Some readers did recommend using minimal props.
4) Shoot your jewelry from interesting angles.
Those are the basics and all you need to do to get started. Here are some photos of few of our readers offered as excellent jewelry photography that works. Thanks everyone!
Lisa Michele
Peace of Mind
Carol Lipworth
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