I've been cleaning lately and found this green necklace of mine.
It's the last necklace I remember buying for myself in a big store (Coldwater Creek) before learning to make jewelry.
It annoys me a little to see this necklace now, knowing how much I paid and how I could have made it myself for less.
But instead of dwelling on that, I tried to remember the reasons I loved this necklace when I first bought it:
- The color green which matched many items in my wardrobe.
- The touches of silver. (My favorite metal at that time.)
- The gemstones. I thought "real" jewelery always had to have gemstones.
- The length. I usually bought chokers, but I found I liked having this longer (24") necklace to layer over sweaters in the winter.
- The turtle beads. So cute!
- It's asymmetrical. Nowadays, you see asymmetrical necklaces all the time but that wasn't always the case.
- The hook clasp. I'd mostly seen spring-ring clasps before this. (The clasp never worked, which didn't bother me as a customer—I just slipped the necklace over my head—but it bothers me a lot now as a designer!)
As a designer, I can get overly focused on making complicated pieces, trying to use difficult techniques or a bouquet of unusual beads. It's refreshing to go back and think like a customer: What made you buy that piece? Why did you love wearing it? The answers may surprise you!