She (Susan Cohn, Melbourne) chaired a session at the
conference on the same theme, ie: 'Jewellers and metalsmiths (indeed all
craftspersons) may argue that, since industrialisation, roles have changed.
Things for day to day use are now mass-produced. The industrial designer
develops the ideas and the objects are made by machinery. So, craftspersons,
whose role is confused, have tended towards one-off 'art' production. Do they
need to? Isn't it time to do some refocussing, to rethink the market and
cultural production. The selected members exhibition Production/Reproduction
attempts to address this issue by posing the question, 'Can production pieces
have the same value, relevance and impact as the one-off piece?' (extract from
JMGA conference brochure, 1995).
Power House Museum
I agree with the above statement. I feel that we have to compete with mass produced jewellery from overseas which is often a lot cheaper than handmade once off pieces, and because of this many independent jewellers are now doing "mass production" of their own pieces but on a much smaller scale. I am not saying that there isn't a market for once off jewellery pieces, there is, but it is a much smaller market. So in order to make money producing jewellery I feel that the bread and butter would be your own "mass produced" range and then once off pieces should be made to demonstrate your skills.
I agree with the above statement. I feel that we have to compete with mass produced jewellery from overseas which is often a lot cheaper than handmade once off pieces, and because of this many independent jewellers are now doing "mass production" of their own pieces but on a much smaller scale. I am not saying that there isn't a market for once off jewellery pieces, there is, but it is a much smaller market. So in order to make money producing jewellery I feel that the bread and butter would be your own "mass produced" range and then once off pieces should be made to demonstrate your skills.
