Jewellery Project

The aim of the Individualization Project was to be able to design and create a concept for a client that matches and felicitates they're style and way of working. To do this we each had our name put in a hat and then in a line picked a name, and that name is our client. A client in terms of art and design or in general is basically our target market as your designing for them in mind. A client is there to assist and direct the designer or architect in the aspiring direction. With this in mind these terms sum it up. Each person was given a sheet with multiple questions, for example do you prefer Summer to Winter? or Harry Potter to Star wars. These questions were meant to be prompts to help us start our thinking.

setting collaborative project outcomes

• strategic decision-making
• stakeholder consultation
• design brief development 
• budget-setting 
• feasibility studies
• procurement procedures
• appraisals of design proposals

From the sheet she choose: Outdoors, Wood, Summer, Contemporary and Harry Potter. This made me think about using Hot Live acrylic, which is a thick plastic around 10mm thick, and it comes in many colours. The bright colours relates to the summer colours being bright greens and yellows and oranges, and blue for the sea. Contemporary made me decide upon keeping the jewellery modern and young. Harry potter did not really help but the use of creatures in the film made me decide upon using cold blooded animals such as lizards and Geckos, this also linked with the wild outdoors and the environment man shares with animals.  

How  I came up with the Jewellery Project ?

For me just having Ellie in our 3DD group I  could observe what she wears and what style she has as everyone differs in what they feel comfortable wearing. I noticed her Jewellery on her wrists was delicate, wooden and plastic mainly and she wore it on a daily basis, and that's how the decision was made. I spoke to my client and she agreed that from day 1 the use of the Laser Cutter was the route I should take to design and make the jewellery. 

Things that might go Wrong?

1. That my file on the laser cutter wont work
2. not enough client feedback
3. Hard using the illustrator software to design rather than 
4. Time

What will work well?

1. Research into existing Jewellery brands and designs
2. Laser cutting 
3. Initial ideas 

Illustrator Files 

Laser Cutting

On the first day of the project after getting my client, using the laser cutter was the second aim as I needed to get use to machine before cutting my Jewellery.  Instead of jumping right in at the deep end and using plastic I used cardboard and engraved the cardboard with cool funky shapes. This is so useful for a designer as its testing out the files. Testing means one can be sure the shape is correct and looks good before doing it for the final time. I also used Plywood which is thin board and engraved that too, using different materials shows versatility. 

Initial Ideas?

From my mood board I took inspiration for my initial ideas, I created pages of colourful ideas that varied in shape and size, from small rings with gems to large Lizard acrylic necklaces. The main thing I focused on was trying to design really bright attractive bling.  

Instead of doing a simple necklace or ring, the idea of making a necklace out of tiny acrylic lizards came to mind. In a shop window it wouldn't be obvious, it would play with the mind. In life sometimes not obvious things are fat more interesting and require thought. 

I really wanted the necklace to be different and not obvious close up. My idea is to create around 15 mini lizards which will be engraved with a cool design like their scales on their skin. The laser will engrave into transparent acrylic so one can see the pattern from both sides. 

The only concern is how to join them. At the moment im thinking of creating 2 tiny holes each end of the lizard and buying a link to attach them. 

Big necklaces are really in fashion a the moment from shops like Zara to H&M and topshop etc selling them. 

This is the lizard im using for the necklace at the moment, I'm working on Adobe Illustrator too, for the laser to recognize it, the outer line needs to be red, and the inner pattern needs to be blue to engrave. The laser machine works fast and very precisely the lines are of a thickness of .001 so very thin.