The third annual London Jewelry Week kicked off this week, despite some previous doubt over the future of the event.  One particular story caught my eye, regarding four fledgling jewelry designers being supported by QVC.

Let me first say that I have seen a huge shift within the jewelry industry, and the retail and manufacture industry as a whole, to lean more on collaboration than pure marketing. This is a new trend that I believe can only be win-win for independent designer/makers and large corporate brands, distributors and retailers allowing for an easier path to market and an ability to present new and fresh designs and styles to a public that is more discerning in their jewelry tastes than ever.

This move by QVC is just one of the signs of this new philosophy.

The shopping channel is not just offering the jewelers a chance to sell their work on TV but is also fully financing the move.  If you aren't aware of how selling on QVC works, you normally have to be invited, cover all costs for ad spots, photography and studio time, as well as be able to mass produce your designs to cope with a minimum expected order amount, and (of course) give QVC their cut.*  It is a venture that can be extremely lucrative, but is unlikely to cost you less than $5,000 initial investment:  a gamble which could make or break a new designer.

In this arrangement, the four designers will give QVC permission to produce their designs on a large scale, without having to pay for this manufacture themselves, and QVC will then take a commission from every sale.  It places the risk squarely with QVC, yet not everyone thinks it is a fabulous opportunity.  Head buyer for QVC, Vannessa Bartsch says that some designers have expressed a fear of losing their sense of individuality by turning corporate and mass producing their designs (abroad, presumably, but we won't go there).  However, she is quick to play down these fears, saying “We want our designers to have their own handwriting. We have a lot of jewellery on QVC and if it all looked the same our customers wouldn’t want to buy from us.”

True, but I can understand why young designers who have been flourishing in an environment of experimentation, freedom and intensely personal creativity might give pause to handing their designs over to be mass produced.  I certainly would, and have made a conscious choice repeatedly to shy away from making the leap from artisan to designer/brand owner.  Is the money better if you outsource production and scale up? Ahem, yes.  There is no question.  But it is a completely different career path.  There are compromises to make, markets to please, reports to take into consideration and every little detail of your business suddenly grows to supernova scale. 

Personally,  I love the knowledge that each piece is a little different, and every single item that is bought by a customer has been touched by my own hand.

What do you think?  If you were given the chance to mass produce your designs, would you?

* This was the detail in the contract I was offered, but admittedly that was around four years ago, and things may have changed.