(WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.) – A new seminar series, “Jewelry Design for the Retail Jeweler,” offers retail jewelers the opportunity to upgrade the value they offer to customers and improve their business at the same time. The two-day seminars are being offered by the Society of American Jewelry Designers, and will be led by the society’s founder, Jack Van Dell, a fine jewelry designer with more than 40 years of experience.
“In recent years we have noticed that fewer and fewer fine jewelers are choosing to design and make custom jewelry for their customers,” said Van Dell. “Our seminars are designed to fill this void and help jewelers who want to begin offering this very profitable service, or who want to expand and enhance their existing custom jewelry capabilities.”
The two-day seminars offer highly individualized, hands-on education in fine jewelry design, the mechanics of jewelry making and design, and the marketing and promotion of a custom design jewelry business.
“Our goal is to help jewelers be more successful by showing them new techniques in the design, making and marketing of their jewelry, both to retail customers and to other jewelers,” said Van Dell.
The first of the two-day seminars will be offered on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 20-21, 2011. After that, the society will offer one seminar a month, except for December. All seminars will be held at the society’s offices and workshop in West Palm Beach, Fla., and the society will help participants with hotel discounts and related travel recommendations.
Class sizes are limited to 10 people per seminar in order to provide highly personalized instruction. The $1250 cost includes a complete jewelry design, drawing and planning kit.
The courses cover a broad range of critical subjects including the use of diamonds and other stones, how various metals are used in both traditional and contemporary designs, stone setting, surface finishes, wax carving and casting, and other technical skills. In addition, Van Dell also leads classes on marketing, customer relations, pricing and other business subjects including how to establish or update a custom design department.
“Many jewelers in business today don’t realize the value of a workshop, and don’t appreciate how much an expert jeweler and a group of talented artisans can add to their business,” Van Dell commented. “The ability to create special pieces can build customer loyalty and add genuine value to their businesses in a way that no amount of discounts, sales events or other retail strategies could ever match.”
For more information on the Society of American Jewelry Designers or its two-day custom design seminars, contact Van Dell at 561-793-2661, or e-mail sajlrydesigners@hotmail.com.
