Behind The Scenes | Jewelry Designer Blog

March 17, 2010

Good Bye & Good Luck Silver Charm Wrap Bracelet

Filed under: Behind the Scenes, Inspiration — Tags: Inspiration, jewelry charms, jewelry design — Yolanda @ 8:30 am

Express your best wishes with silver charms and silk cord. Happy beading is my St. Patty’s wish for all fellow beaders! This is my last blog entry, which saddens me but on this St. Patrick’s day I feel lucky to share with you this cultural celebration. When I think of St. Patrick’s day I think of four-leaf clovers and what they mean. For most they signify good fortune and the advent of change to come. And, at this moment in my life, that is very appropriate because March 31st will be my last day at Nina Designs. I am very lucky to be taking with me many fond memories and tons of knowledge! Seattle, WA will be my new home and to jump start my next adventure I have created my “Let’s Celebrate” four-leaf clover silk wrap bracelet.

Let's Celebrate

I started by selecting silk fairy ribbon in leaf green because it represents the abundance of four leaf clovers I hope to find as I continue to fulfill my personal legend in Seattle. I surrounded the four-leaf clover charm with the word tags: love, luck, hope, and faith. They represent each petal of the clover. Wishbones symbolize good luck, dreams come true, harmony, and gratitude (plus it reminds me of feasting with family and friends).

I love creating jewelry that has a folkloric theme. To give this necklace a folksy appeal, I have separated each charm with a simple knot. I hope that my “Let’s Celebrate” bracelet is a good representation of such a happy day. I feel super lucky to have been part of your lives here at Nina Designs. My goal starting April 1st, is to follow in the steps of all the jewelry designers out there so that I too can prosper by using the beautiful jewelry findings Nina Designs creates for all of us. Good luck and I will miss you all dearly.

I love to wear a bunch of mixed charm bracelets!

Dolce loves charm bracelets too!

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March 15, 2010

Nina Designs Office Mascot in Silk Bows and Silver Charms

Filed under: Behind the Scenes, New Products — Tags: business tips, jewelry business, silver charms — juanita @ 8:30 am

Every great office needs a great mascot decked out in silk bows and sterling silver charms! And we found ours in a lovable, absolutely adorable poodle/dachshund puppy named Dolce. As her name suggests, she is as soft and sweet as spun sugar, and a delight to have in the office. She follows Nina around everywhere, but we all take turns rubbing her pink belly and taking her for walks in the neighborhood.

Celebrate all the furry friends in your lives that provide unconditional love and endless enjoyment with our pet themed charms. Our collection is ever popular and just keeps growing. We started with our silver word charms: I love cats, I love dogs,, and wild thing. Before long we designed a series of whimsical paw print charms and a round charm featuring a cat silhouette. Be on the look out for our next cat charm, a textured version of a kitty sitting pretty, and a little dog bone charm that offers a small surface for stamping Fido’s name. And, for all you horse lovers out there, we are coming out with a series of horse charms and pendants soon!

Meet Dolce

Upcoming dog bone charms in the making

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February 15, 2010

India Silver Charms

Filed under: Behind the Scenes — Tags: India, jewelry charms, travel — nina @ 9:58 am

India has one of the most ancient traditions of silver jewelry production in the world. From silver charm amulets to necklaces and bracelets, jewelry is a time-honored way for Indian women to store wealth. Silver jewelry in India developed as an art form over thousands of years. Today’s silversmiths channel this rich heritage into their work. Despite this history, Indian silver often fails to meet high quality standards. I believe this is a result of extreme financial pressures. We spent years tracking down a production facility that we trusted. Our Indian silver is the same high quality as all of our other silver jewelry findings. We also have confidence that the silversmiths receive a fair wage and good working conditions.

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February 8, 2010

Beadaholic

Filed under: Behind the Scenes, Uncategorized — Tags: beads — nina @ 9:48 am

Beadaholic. Yes it is true, most of us at Nina Designs are hopeless bead addicts. For some, like Juanita, the condition is relatively new. She only started beading a few years ago when she came to work with us, but she has developed a fierce case nonetheless. Clara claims that she, “has been beading since birth.” When I asked Ana about it she blushed as only a red head can blush, then admitted to stealing beads from her kindergarten class. Her mother found the beads and forced her to confess to the principal, a trauma from which she has yet to recover.

Erin’s mother served up trips to the bead store as an annual Christmas treat. When Emily was 12, she moved up from beading to metal-smithing, both skills she still employs on a regular basis. Leah’s love for African beads was honed when she lived in Zimbabwe but her bead roots dig deep into childhood. Personally, I have always loved to bead. My favorite childhood memory from driving cross country was a stop in Sante Fe where I spent my meager life savings on “liquid silver” beads and turquoise. Are you a Beadaholic? How did it begin?

An Early Nina Designs Original!

Young Leah's first jewelry creations

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January 11, 2010

Silver Jewelry Philanthropy

Filed under: Behind the Scenes, Business — Tags: philanthropy — nina @ 10:04 am

Silver jewelry is our passion at Nina Designs but we are also committed to using our business to help create a better world. We can do this in many ways: by paying fair wages to our artisans, by embracing Green business practices, by spreading beauty and inspiration. Direct philanthropy is an important part of the mix. We would like to thank all of you for making it possible for us to make cash donations to the following non-profits in 2009:

Half The Sky Foundation operates infant nurture centers, preschools, foster care and individual educational projects inside government orphanages in China. They have 45 centers operating in 11 provinces. Their early enrichment and educational programs are critical for proper childhood development. Without these programs, babies and toddlers have little or no stimulation. They are often developmentally delayed, which leads them to be labeled as retarded and denied a normal education. Since 1998 35,000 orphaned children have participated in HTS programs.

Heifer International helps children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant.

Founded in 1889, Children’s Home Society & Family Services knows that a child in a safe, nurturing home is a child who thrives. Recognizing the fundamental human rights of children, they work to give every child security, opportunity, permanency, and a loving family. In Minnesota, throughout the United States and in more than a dozen countries worldwide, they help struggling families stay strong and care for their children. They help children without families find permanent, loving homes through adoption.

WJA, founded in 1983, is the preeminent association of professional women in the jewelry, watch and related businesses. Through the national organization and a network of 13 regional chapters, members benefit from educational and networking opportunities, scholarships, design competitions and recognition programs.

We hope to do even more in 2010!

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January 5, 2010

Charming New Year

Filed under: Behind the Scenes, Business — Tags: jewelry charms, silver charms — nina @ 1:15 pm

Happy New Year!! I hope you had the same strong holiday sales that we enjoyed here at Nina Designs. Despite the recession, holiday shoppers were out in force looking for great value and creative designs. Congratulations to all of you who made it through an unexpectedly hectic season. In the holiday rush, we got squeezed out of the design studio. Our New Year’s resolution is to hunker down and fill our pipeline with inspiring new silver charms and silver jewelry findings. Any requests? What is your business New Year’s resolution?

Poetry Charm

Vermeil Style Gold Plate Charm

Bow Charm

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December 21, 2009

Season’s Greetings from Nina Designs

Filed under: Behind the Scenes — Tags: Inspiration — admin @ 11:13 am

Happy Holidays

Congratulations from the Nina Designs crew for making it through another crazy holiday season. We know how hard jewelry designers work to create and market beautiful jewelry for the holiday season. Now it’s time to rest, celebrate family and friends, count our blessings, and ring in the new year. Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! Happy Kwanzaa!

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December 9, 2009

Jewelry Supply Inventory Management: The Shifting Target (Part 2)

Filed under: Behind the Scenes, Business — Tags: business tips, jewelry business — Carly @ 3:56 pm

In the jewelry supply business and in the jewelry business in general inventory management is often the very key to success. Inventory management is also an aspect of the jewelry business that has a variety of challenges and is always fluctuating. As the inventory manager at Nina Designs, I would like to share my current approaches to inventory management that may help you or inspire a dialogue of further discussion on the topic. In October I discussed “New Items and Opening Orders”. This month, I will discuss “Reviewing Past Sales and Projecting Into The Future”.

Using past sales figures as a tool for re-ordering is an approach that will save you money, time and give you focus for the management of your inventory. You will save money by allocating your funds towards items that are selling well and ordering in volumes that will prevent you from being overstocked yet not running out of inventory. You will save time and gain focus through having a set routine for re-ordering as well as having fewer overstocked items to manage.

I review the sales for the past three months and use those averages to project into the future. If I notice that I am selling 30 pieces of an item per month on average then I need to decide how many months inventory I want on hand for that item. I usually allow for three months inventory on hand to allow for unexpected large orders from customers as well as turn around time from our vendors. My intention is to reduce the possibility of being overstocked while also doing my best to always have stock available to our customers.

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December 4, 2009

Silver Charms flying out the door!

Filed under: Behind the Scenes — Tags: holiday shipping, silver charms — leah @ 10:58 am

The holiday season is in full swing in our office and silver charms, silver pendants, clasps and earring findings are flying off our shelves. As we pull orders, our minds wander as we note the combination of different silver charms, and try to imagine the beautiful pieces of jewelry that they will become. Will this Buddha charm and lotus blossom become a yoga-themed wrap bracelet similar to the one featured in BeadStyle Magazine by Ute Bernsen? Or will it become a nature inspired necklace with the lotus blossom as a focal point? We are all busy working as efficiently as possible to get your items out to you as quickly as we can! It’s very hectic here and things are selling out, so please get your orders in as soon as you can. I hope everyone is having a busy and profitable holiday season!

Silver charms flying out the doors at Nina Designs.

Nina adds another order to the queue of orders waiting to be invoiced!

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November 6, 2009

Halloween Earrings at Nina Designs

Filed under: Behind the Scenes — Tags: working moms — leah @ 9:42 am

This Halloween, Nina Designs had its best themed costume ever: a pair of Silver Earrings! It’s become a yearly tradition to wear our Halloween costumes to the office where we share a group lunch and admire each others handiwork and creativity. This year, when Juanita walked through the door dressed as an earring, we all cackled with delight! The T1102 hook earring was made with thick wire (actually the stem of a fake sunflower) with a A729 peace charm disk hanging from it. Of course, she changed into another costume for the evening festivities because otherwise, who but a bunch of crazy jewelry-obsessed Nina Designs’ employees would know what she was?

Juanita dressed as an earring!

Bottom Row: Leah, Phoenix, Stephanie. Top Row: Nina, Juanita, Anna, Erin, Clara, Carly, Yolanda

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