7 Ways to Find Jewelry Design Ideas and Inspiration

Even the most accomplished jewelry designers sometimes experience creativity fatigue, or loss of inspiration. This is true for most artists in any creative industry. The question is, “how do you rekindle, or if you’re new to the profession, fire up, your creative juices”? Much like any artistic process, finding inspiration and coming up with new design ideas is a personal process, but there are also many things you can do to help that process along. We’ve listed some tried and true tips for doing so below. Of course, we’d love to hear from you if you have any of your own tips to share with us for finding jewelry design ideas. Feel free to add them in the comments box!

1.Look around and let nature inspire you. Many great designers in many different industries have taken their inspiration from nature; from landscape paintings to textiles to jewelry design. To receive inspiration from nature, pay special attention to the shapes, textures and colors you see in natural settings – in plants, animals, rock formations, water etc. Think of nature in motion, note its contrasts, and examine it from different angles to gain new perspectives. You’ll soon start to see the fabulous way that nature can inspire creativity, just like the creative expression in the designs you see below.

Bee & bee hive pendant

Mountain Pendant

Turtle pendant with gemstones

Ox, dog and monkey Chinese calendar pendant

Cat ear inspired engagement ring

2. Look at other designs for inspiration. Obviously, this does not mean copying outright another designer’s jewelry ideas, but sometimes browsing other designs can inspire your own ideas. You don’t have to limit yourself to a specific theme or concept either. On the contrary, you’ll find more inspiration by looking at pieces with different themes and concepts, or different types of metals and gemstones. Here are a few to get you started , but we’ve got plenty more inspiring designs for you to browse!

3. Stay in touch with the latest fashions. However, don’t limit yourself to fashion trends in clothing and jewelry. Take a look at trends in architecture, film, music, and other industries that affect fashion trends as well. You’ll be surprised how much fashion trends in these industries influence each other and how they can spark your own design ideas.

4. Follow jewelry blogs. Reading jewelry blogs for what’s new in jewelry design is another effective way to find inspiration. There are many excellent writers out there who can keep you updated on the latest innovations, design ideas, trends and fashions. Find one that suits your personal style and start perusing for inspiration! Feel free to check out the Jewelrythis blog while you’re at it.

5. Start sketching. Sometimes, all you need to do to find your creative spark is to just start sketching. Think of it as an outward expression of stream of consciousness. Often, the process of sketching itself inspires creativity. Other times it’s the mixing of ideas when you look back at your sketches, or simply the unleashing of ideas that have been on your mind, but couldn’t fully surface, that allows your creativity to flow again.

Sketch of engagement ring

6. Look back in time. History is replete with changes, innovations, people, and events that can profoundly inspire. Whether it’s the history of fashion, the history of jewelry, the history of gemstones, or the history of the world, a look back at historical areas of interest to you, can inspire great design ideas.

7. Take a break. Last, but not least, if all else fails, take a little break, do other things, re-energize and then get back to doing what you love – designing beautiful jewelry!