Nersel’s Designer Trendy Gold Jewelry

Seven Major Jewelry Market Trends

by Rena Klingenberg

“Here are seven of the fastest-growing trends in the jewelry industry. Some of them have been building momentum for a few years, while others are just emerging. But all seven of these trends are making a major impact on the jewelry marketplace. 

Consider how your jewelry business can profit from the market niches that these trends are opening up!

• New metals - 
  

  Although yellow gold is popular again, the real trend to watch is the emerging jewelry metals. Consumer demand is growing rapidly for jewelry made with titanium, steel, or palladium.

   

  In March 2006, “titanium jewelry” received 15 times more online searches than “copper jewelry” - and roughly the same number of searches as “emerald jewelry” and “sapphire jewelry” combined.

   

  The excitement surrounding these newer materials is part of an overall interest in new ways to use metal in jewelry. Links are a hugely popular jewelry component. Links of all shapes, materials, and sizes combined or used individually are a hot trend in jewelry.

   

  Along with the interest in links comes the popularity of chains - lots of chain in mixed sizes and weights; chain in earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. And chain maille - especially when it’s combined with other jewelry techniques.

   

   

• Custom-made jewelry / personalized jewelry - 
  

  Jewelry that’s significant to the person wearing it is another major trend. If you can offer affordable custom jewelry options, or ways to personalize jewelry for your customers, you should do quite well.

   

  People love to choose their own stones, beads, or Swarovski colors; they love name bracelets, personal message tag jewelry, and charm jewelry with significant dangles. They love to wear and give precious metal clay jewelry that has custom words, designs, and shapes. And photo jewelry is extremely popular.

   

   

• Men’s jewelry - 
  

  No matter what jewelry market niche you usually serve, you may want to consider adding a line of men’s jewelry and promoting it heavily.

   

  Men of all ages are wearing more and more jewelry, and surprisingly (at least to me!) most of men’s jewelry purchases are made by men shopping for themselves. This is a huge and fast-growing wave, and it doesn’t look like it will be disappearing any time soon. Men’s jewelry is currently the “must-have accessory”. Stainless steel is a dominant trend right now in jewelry for men.

   

   

• Right-hand rings - 
  

  I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating: Rings made for the right-hand ring finger of single women have grown into a multi-million-dollar industry in less than three years.

   

  This jewelry item is typically purchased by a single woman for herself. Although this accessory began as a “diamond right-hand ring,” women are choosing right hand rings of all styles, with or without gems.

   

  If you design rings, you may want to research this rapidly growing market more thoroughly.

   

   

• People purchasing jewelry for themselves - 
  

  As two of the above trends have shown, people are purchasing jewelry for themselves more than ever before. Self-purchases now account for over 60% of all jewelry sold. And 80% of consumers are likely to purchase jewelry for themselves when they’re out shopping for other people.

   

  I’ve definitely seen this trend in my own jewelry business - and I’ve learned which price points work best for my self-purchasing customers. Find out which pieces your customers tend buy for themselves, and how much they’re willing to spend on self-purchased jewelry.

   

   

• Jewelry for “Generation Y” - 
  

  Generation Y is the name given to the children of the American Baby Boomer generation. Born between 1978 and 2000, the members of Generation Y are now 6 to 28 years old - and approximately 76 million strong.

   

  Why are they significant to the jewelry marketplace? Because they’re an even bigger market segment than their parents’ generation. Generation Y is an important demographic in every market because they’re such a huge group of consumers with a lot of buying power - and an enormous future purchasing impact.

   

  It’s also worth noting that this generation is very computer-oriented and spends a lot of time online - which means they are (or will become) major online shoppers. They are also big fans of ipods and other related devices; businesses that market to Generation Y via these devices stand to make a significant profit.

   

   

• Diversity in pearls - 
  

  Pearls have always been popular - and people can’t get enough of all the fantastic new pearls that are available!

   

  The incredible variety of pearl colors, shapes, sizes, and types enable you to offer your customers some wonderfully unique pearl jewelry. Currently there’s especially great interest in baroque pearls and the “new” pearl shapes such as petals, coins, and squares.

Keep an eye on these seven trends and watch how they continue to form. A good way to capitalize on them might be to merge them into your unique jewelry style - and give the resulting jewelry a prominent place in your displays and website. “

Source of article:http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/index.html

 Check out www.nerselirene.com for new fashionable jewelry

© by Nersel zur Muehlen; all rights reserved
I started my jewelry business in August 2005. My business partner and I are childhood friends and we both were into jewelry and unique designs for the longest time. I have been working in the corporate world for the last eight years doing recruiting. My daytime job pays my mortgage and other expenses but it is not something I am passionate about. I don’t get up every morning excited to go to work. My partner has been running her own information technology consulting company for the past five years; she is also content but not passionate. And content is not the way you should live your life. Last summer when I was visiting my hometown, Istanbul, we went to one of the old historic parts of the city. Walking on the ancient cobble stone streets and looking at arts and crafts we started talking about our love for jewelry as a nation, how Ottoman sultans and concubines wore elegant jewelry decorated with precious stones their warriors brought from distant and exotic lands. They have decorated not only themselves but also their guns, clothes and household objects with jewelry. We ended up in a small silver shop where a seventy year old man was designing and producing silver jewelry by hand. He invited us in a very friendly manner customary to many Turks. We drank tea, looked at his designs and talked about his craftsmanship. My partner ended up buying one of his silver necklaces. On our way back home at the end of the day we talked about how this old man looked happy even though he did not seem to be making a lot of money, he was doing something that he really enjoyed. That day my friend and I decided to start our own jewelry business. We got very excited and started listing things we wanted to do. Going to jewelry stores in the ancient Grand Bazaar, buying jewelry making books, taking jewelry design classes. So we started planning and initiating.
We have established our company in Hoboken, NJ, hometown of Frank Sinatra, where I have been residing since 1999. Hoboken once a gateway to Irish, Italian and German immigrants would be a gateway to this Turkish immigrant’s dreams of starting her own jewelry business. A lot of people suggested that I establish the company in New York but I have decided to stick with Hoboken.
My partner and I started collecting pictures, books, catalogs and jewelry magazines. We are reading every piece of article we can find about jewelry. I mail her boxes and boxes full of magazines from here and she is doing the same from Istanbul.
One day one of my colleagues at my job told me that she hated her worn out, simple, and white gold wedding band. She said she did not think her wedding band reflects her love for her husband and their marriage. She was right! Her ring did look dull and boring. I told her she would probably need something that sparkles, something unique, and handcrafted to reflect the hard work that goes into maintaining a happy marriage. Based on this discussion we created a beautiful 18K yellow gold hand hammered antique looking wedding band for her. Two rings worn together to reflect the unity of two people. She loved it! Her husband loved it! She became our very first customer.
My partner and I have spent all our weekends and free time building a business from our passion. Now that our website is up and running we needed to advertise it and get the word out.  We know the best advertisement is the quality of our products and word of mouth. With very limited advertising budget we have quickly started making sales and have been getting great feedback from our customers. We offer free shipping and gift packaging as a bonus with every item.
There are so many jewelers out there. However we think that most of today’s jewelry looks very similar, white gold with diamonds. We at Nersel & Irene do not think that women want to wear standard jewelry. Some of the other jewelers may have nice designs too, but we know what our competency is. Our competency is our inspiration, our heritage, rich culture and the meaning of each of our products. Women have been wearing jewelry not just for beautification purposes but also for the purposes of protection, and celebration of love and life. When women shop for jewelry now the norm is not diamond studs or pearl earrings but jewelry that stands out. Women want jewelry that reflects their unique personalities and their individuality.  Antique and colorful ethnic jewelry is one way women can express themselves. Lots of colors, combinations of 18K and 24K gold and semiprecious stones are very electrifying and chic. Women want to make statements with their colorful, large and shiny jewelry. Most women don’t just want the rock, they want the design and they want to create their own designs.
There is a shift in emphasis from gems to metal.  We like working with 24K gold because it is pure, natural and has a great twinkle. We use motifs like the pomegranate fruit which has been cultivated as an ornament and for its edible fruit. The fruit has long been a religious and artistic symbol. In the Old Testament, Solomon sang of an “orchard of pomegranates.” Because of its role in the Greek legend of Persephone, the pomegranate came to symbolize fertility, prosperity, and eternity. In Christian art it is a symbol of hope. We love the color combination of a high quality turquoise stone and yellow gold. The turquoise stone has all the shades of a deep blue ocean. For thousands of years this gemstone has been appreciated as a holy stone, a good-luck-charm or a talisman. It is a virtual “people’s gemstone”. The oldest proof for this lies in Egypt, where in tombs from the period around 3000 B.C. artifacts with Turquoise were found. In the ancient Persian Kingdom the sky-blue gemstones were originally worn around the neck or on the hand as protection against evil spirits. Another item we have used as a pendant is the fig tree. The Greeks saw the fig tree as sacred to Dionysus, whose popular worship encouraged an emphasis upon fertility and the efflorescence of the vital force. On a mystical level this indicates the embrace of absolute unity, the intimate experiencing of the heart that beats in every atom in nature as the germ of the tree of knowledge whose fruit yields eternal life. It is this vital force which quickens the seed and helps it to germinate, making the branches bend downward their boughs like the sacred Ashwatha tree. Fig trees are usually associated with cosmic sacrifice and eternal life. Everyone of our designs have a meaning.
We aim to create and give timeless, high quality jewelry that women can wear at various occasions, give to a loved one or pass on to their children. Transforming our heritage, art and culture into unique pieces of jewelry is a great experience. We are inspired by our own lives or the lives of other people. And these other people don’t need to be celebrities. The blueprints of our unique designs are ancient pieces of jewelry created thousands of years ago. The first gold coins were struck in Western Anatolia where the Lydians lived. The first gold jewelry emerged in Mesopotamia during the Early Bronze Age. Gold jewelry has been crafted and worn in Anatolia for thousands of years. These very first jewelers in history used various techniques that are still used by today’s jewelers. Our talented artisans have spent many years to learn and master the art of gold jewelry making in the lands of Istanbul, Byzantium, the Mediterranean and Anatolia. We believe every woman is unique and has a story to tell. Every woman should feel like a goddess. That is why our tag line is for the Goddess inside you. Our logo includes a twin goddess figure (the side-by-side double goddesses), which symbolizes the partnership behind our business and our friendship. The Twin Goddesses embedded in our logo expresses the duality of the feminine archetype, such as opposite seasons (winter and summer, spring and fall); the alternating rhythm of day and night; the integration of death and life; or the female twin deities of Moon and Earth. The Twin Goddesses demonstrate a kinship connection, the relationship of lovers or friendship.
We hope that our customers can create their own history with our jewelry. Please view our unique designs on www.nerselirene.com

Women want jewelry! All women ( ok maybe almost all women) love jewelry! Women have been wearing jewelry for thousands of years. They wear jewelry not just for beautification purposes but also for the purposes of protection, and celebration of love and life. When women shop for jewelry now the norm is not diamond studs or pearl earrings but jewelry that stands out. Women want jewelry that reflects their unique personalities and their individuality. Jewelry that celebrates their feminity, their character, their achievements and their story. Antique and colorful ethnic jewelry is one way women can express themselves. Lots of colors, combinations of 18K and 24K gold and semiprecious stones are very electrifying and chic. Women want to make statements with their colorful, large and shiny jewelry. Most women don’t just want the rock, they want the design and they want to create their own designs. Jewelry with a meaning is the best jewelry gift. Find out what is important for her, what are her hobbies, is she collecting special items, what is she passionate about, what does she love, what is she talking about all time? Listen her if you want to know how to surprise her with a unique gift. I had a lady buy our pomegrante pendant this week and when I asked her how she found us, she said she has been collecting pomegranate art work for years and thought that a wearible one would be very nice. Jewelry that has history, meaning, stories associated has more meaning than a very expensive brand name diamond. You can tell her how you found this special item, what it means for you and for her and how it fits her character and reflects her uniquenes.

For meaningful, unique, highend jewelry gift selections please view our own designs at www.nerselandirene.com