Jewellery design forecasting helps designers and manufacturers make the right business decisions as they are more likely to craft pieces that will succeed commercially.
Trends expert Paola De Luca has outlined trend themes for Spring-Summer 2019 for IJL. Her vision includes designs rooted in urban lifestyles, the renaissance of pearls, dark romantic influences, and a blending of Art Deco and 1960s Op Art themes.
She also says the presence of the space trend on the fashion runways is permeating into jewellery designs. Paola will present her detailed forecasts in a seminar at IJL in September, following a well-attended talk at the show last year.
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Designers and industry specialists believe that perspicacious jewellery design forecasts can be essential tools in making business decisions.
“Trend forecasting assists me in deciding what is going to provide me with the best profit and what will commercially sell,” says London-based designer Sara Peymanpour, whose design themes are influenced by her Persian heritage.
“I believe every designer and creator needs to be aware of the trends, to look at how every trend has a root in history and how it is being revived and updated again and again. I do observe trends via many platforms from Instagram, street photography websites and fashion shows, to travelling and economic news, not to follow the trends but to inspire and create the next one by using the data gathered, my own intuition and personal inspirations,” she says.
Naomi Newton-Sherlock, Creative Director of Domino Jewellery, said Domino’s product development strategy is influenced by several key factors of which forecasting aesthetic trends is an essential part.
“We use subtle interpretations of key trends to ensure our pieces have both current appeal and critically longevity,” she says. “Understanding and interpreting trends can be quite daunting to the uninitiated: filtering information to distil the relevant aspects is a fine art.
“As a fine jewellery producer, primarily of bridal designs, we usually side-step trends that are likely to be fleeting. We focus, instead, on those that will have longer term appeal with consumers to ensure we keep our products as relevant and desirable as possible.”
Aishleen Lester, a Kickstarter at IJL 2018, who has created designer brand Le Ster Jewellery, says that knowing about trends is invaluable to her as a designer.
“It gives an insight into what people might be drawn to – colours, styles, settings, themes etc,” she says.
“However, working as an independent designer, I find a majority of my customers want to have a timeless, almost universal appeal. They want to see a thread running from one piece to another. So I would say it is about balance: balancing your consistent voice whilst being aware of trends, so that both inform the other during the design and making process but also the marketing process – in the way you choose to frame your pieces in the world.”
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Kathryn Bishop, a well-respected industry journalist, gives a few tips to designers on how to make the right business decisions using trends data, while remaining true to their brand essence.
“As a starting point, step back to first consider your own brand DNA and USPs against the trends, assessing which are a natural fit with your current aesthetic, or have potential to tease at your design boundaries and inspire your customers with something new,” she says.
“Take cues, too, from the materials and techniques you regularly use – be they precious metals, leather, zirconia – and the ease with which they might be elevated by drawing on design motifs or nuances from these trends,” she adds.
Such trends also provide an opportunity to explore new applications and finishes that might be on a designer’s radar, for example specialist platings like nano-ceramic, or overlooked but alluring gems such as keshi pearls.
Kathryn adds: “Ultimately, among UK customers in particular, successful collections are often those that provide accessible, wearable nuances of major trends while communicating a clear identity about the wearer.”
IJL is #withyou offering insights into the latest trends to support your design and buying decisions. Find out more about our 2018 exhibitors or contact a member of our team for more information.
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