More than 2,500 designers entered the competition with Swarovski gems incorporated into designs for mobile phones, mp3 players, notebook, earphones and loudspeakers.

The categories included ‘Highly Luxurious’, ‘Daily Business’, ‘Let’s Party’ and ‘Casual Sports’.

You can see the winners and their beautiful, innovative designs here.

In a world of mass production and compromised quality, there remains an ever shrinking community of true artisans.

Designers, creators and innovators who enjoy the thrill of a ‘blank canvas’ on the medium of their choosing, upon which something that has never been seen before… begins to emerge.

John Harrison is one such artisan.

Jewellery designer and Master Craftsman with nearly four decades and over 100,000 hours on the bench, John’s passion for his craft has not diminished. In fact, he tells me, his passion is only increasing.

Name | John Harrison of, The Harrison Jewellery Company P/L

Located | Gold Coast, Queensland

Speciality | Original designs, Diamonds and Exotic Gems crafted into exquisite pieces of handmade Gold and Platinum jewellery.

Draws his inspiration from… Spending time with my clients, getting a sense of who they are and what they like. The design process is a very personal and emotive experience – a collaboration between myself as the designer and my clients who are the trusting recipient of the creative process. As I’m speaking with them, I get ideas and images in my mind of what their piece could look like.

I never look at other people’s jewellery, magazine images or even my own previous work for clients. I regard each person as totally unique and the jewellery piece I create for them is an extension of who I am as a designer, who they are as an individual and the vision we create together.

What makes a beautiful design? The difference between a beautifully designed piece of flowing jewellery and a mediocre one is two key design elements – Line and Balance.

Unfortunately much of the jewellery I see designed and made today looks like a mismatch of different design elements and styles that are thrown together. They are not looking to design a piece of art but a structure created only to fulfil the function of displaying and encasing a gemstone.

My intention is to always create beautiful, flowing, seamless lines in my pieces where the eye is drawn easily across the form of the jewellery. Many jewellers over-design and try and put too much into a ring. The rule ‘less is more’ applies very well here.

I believe jewellery should evoke an emotion. I want people to ‘feel’ something when they see my pieces, as they are an extension of the person wearing it.

On the jewellery industry… Rightly or wrongly, technology is rapidly changing the face of the jewellery industry, with the focus shifting from time honoured handcrafted skills to computer-aided design.

Sadly, many aspiring jewellers who are looking to learn the ‘traditional’ techniques of jewellery making cannot find apprenticeships or anyone willing to teach them.

The jewellers coming through are much more ‘technician’ than craftsperson, as the industry once again changes its dynamic and demands a quicker turn around time with reduced costs.

His advice to up-and-coming jewellery designers? Don’t compromise!

Don’t let anyone convince you that you cannot be an amazing jeweller and reach your full potential. Economic pressures have always been with us. You can be tempted to lower your standards and not put your maximum effort into a piece because its not worth it.

Everything we do is worthy of our effort and every finished piece a reflection of who we are as artists and as people. It’s so easy to be mediocre.

I encourage you to keep a strong hold on your integrity and pursue excellence in all you do.

Refining your gold nugget will tell you exactly how much gold you have in your nugget. It could be anywhere from 60 to 98% depending on where you retrieved it from. The price is determined by the current gold spot price multiplied by the gold’s purity less your refining and assay fee. Find today’s gold spot price here.

If you’re selling to other gold nugget collectors, then appearance is important. When prospecting, be gentle as damage from your pick can actually reduce the value of the nugget. Use your metal detector to pin point the location of your nugget and dig carefully! For collectors, the look of gold nugget can be just as important for determining price as the percentage of gold it contains.

A specimen gold nugget is a matrix of gold and other rock, usually quartz or ironstone (in Australia). If the gold to rock ratio is high, and the shape shows off a lot of the gold at the surface, your nugget can hold a higher value. The largest specimen gold nugget in the world to this date is the Holterman Nugget found in Australia at Hill End, NSW in 1872 weighing in at 285 kg.

For the best price for your gold nuggets, a quality assay report and money in your account in as little as 3 days – contact PMT today.

Image courtesy of stock.xchng.

Enjoy this beautiful behind the scenes video The Making of the Soleil d’Automne Ring, from French jeweller Chanel which shows the making of a gemset ring.

Chanel Fine Jewellery began in 1932 when Mademoiselle Chanel exhibited her first jewellery collection built around the twin themes of the Comet and the Diamond. When the company revived this activity in 1993, the collection paid homage to its origins in the form of reproductions and reinterpretations of the first pieces from the “Bijoux de Diamant” collection.

How the gold is used determines the amount of gold in relation to other metals. Pure gold is actually very soft, and in order to be useful for example, in manufacturing jewellery, it is alloyed with several other metals to increase its hardness and durability.

Gold readily creates alloys with metals such as silver, copper, zinc or nickel. The ratio of gold and alloys can be modified to obtain certain colours (e.g. rose gold or white gold). Today manufacturing jewellers prefer nickel-free alloys as many people are allergic to the nickel in jewellery.

Gold comes in several carats, the purest being 24 carat gold which is also the most expensive. It also comes in 22 carat, 18 carat, and 9 carat gold, 18 carat being used widely in the manufacturing jewellery industry for its rich colour and durability. Most gold jewellery will be stamped with its carat (K or Kt), for example, on the inside of gold rings and bracelets.

The price of gold jewellery is based on it’s purity (carat), design and construction and current market price. Alloys add weight to gold, and so weight cannot be used to accurately determine the price.

Gold Purity: Quick Reference Guide

24 carat – 100% gold

22 carat – 91.7% gold

18 carat – 75.0% gold

14 carat – 58.3% gold

12 carat – 50.0% gold

10 carat – 41.7% gold

9 carat – 37.5% gold

Check out PMT’s range of Gold and Precious Metal Supplies for manufacturing jewellers.

More coming soon…