Do you have a great eye for jewelry design? If you do, you may be wondering how you can sell your jewelry designs to big companies. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily an easy process or one that can happen overnight; however, with hard work you can make a career of something you love. Being a jewelry designer takes more than just skill, but also good marketing ability and an understanding that you are marketing not just your work but also yourself.

Things You Will Need

  • Portfolio

  • Marketing materials

How to Sell Jewelry Ideas to Big Companies

Learn the skills you need to produce your designs. You should be able to sketch your designs, creating an accurate representation of the final piece. You also may need metalworking, beading, or glass making skills for your jewelry design business. You can find the classes you need at universities, community colleges and specialty shops.

Create your own jewelry design aesthetic. In order to do well and possibly sell your jewelry designs, you need to have a unique eye, new techniques or something that distinguishes your work from everything else out there. This can be a process and many people find that their style evolves and changes over time as they grow, mature and become more skilled in the jewelry making process.

Begin to sell your jewelry. While you may eventually want to sell your designs to big jewelry companies, most jewelry designers start out independent. You can sell through online marketplaces, local craft shows or local boutiques. Eventually, you may be making enough selling jewelry that you can quit your day job.

Expand your business. You might market your jewelry designs to other retailers, add another craft person to help with production, or consider working in higher end materials. You should stay up to date on the trade, get opinions from jewelers in your area and attend trade shows.

Prepare a marketing portfolio. Take advantage of contacts you have made in the jewelry business when you are ready to sell to big jewelry companies. Send a good quality marketing packet including a bio and excellent images of your work to companies you might be interested in designing for. Ideally, you will have first made contact with someone at the company via a trade show or colleague. Follow up by phone if at all possible.

Read over all contracts carefully and know your rights. Before you sell your jewelry designs, consider having an attorney review the contracts. Can you still sell your work independently? Which designs are you selling the rights to and how will they be used? Consider all aspects of selling your work before you make the decision to do so.