By: AuSmith

AuSmith — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 19:18:43 +0000

First, to “manufacture jewellery” is different than a hobbyist/ beader assembling parts and creating one off designs, or even making small production runs of maybe 144 pieces of a single identical design ,then perhaps producing the same design in 4 different colour schemes.
Manufacturing jewellery means you are:
A) a legitimate business with a proper tax Id and paying taxes in your state or in any state or market that you sell in. Also a manufacturer isn’t generally retailing to the public, but producing a product and selling wholesale.Even if you are manufacturing jump rings, you are producing a product for sale to a target market, which means establishing an inventory, cataloguing your designs or products in which sizes and materials and at what price.You may however wholesale and retail using a triple keystone catalogue pricing scheme as many manufacturers take advantage of doing by wholesaling to large suppliers that resell to their clients supplying your items/products to vendors that then resell retail direct to customers say in a craft store, retail location, e-commerce store or other venue that deals with the public taking the marketing you have to do to a professional level at a buyers market or other venue where wholesale merchants go to purchase their wares for resale through established channels both national and sometimes international. You may string seed beads and supply a company like Oriental Merchandise at a price that beats those they can buy in quantity from cottage industries in India or other cottage industry collectives which would entail your having a set of employees manufacturing finished necklaces.there is a difference between finished necklaces and temporarily strung beads that help the government determine weather or not yours is a manufacturing concern. Making a few of the same original designs of say, a necklace or brooch, bracelet or ring in your small studio on your own and selling at craft fairs, artisan collectives, juried crafts guild’s stores, and festivals with store bought materials ( that you are paying retail prices for and in small quantities) and some elements you actually create of metal ,metal clay, wire-work, chainmaille , glass, wood, legally harvested and EPA approved shell materials, felting or found objects ( to name a few) and is not from a design you saw in a magazine or instructional video, but completely your own and that you think is professional enough that it could be copied DOES require you to copyright the design, hallmark the fineness of the metal ( if using precious metals.base metals do not require any hallmarking – or assay marks if exported to another country that regulates metals sales and jewellery manufacturing) and if you have one it would be in your best interest for brand building to attach your logo or maker’s stamp or tag particularly if you send it to ‘ Aunt Bea’ to sell at the local flea market in another state that takes place every weekend! If you manufacture you are building a business and a brand, not just making a piece of jewellry; there is a profound difference between hobbyist and professional, manufacturer and crafter.If you want to check yourself and your idea go to the IRS and FTC websites, they will help you discern whether your business is actually a business, and if so you need to treat it as such.Buying components retail is not a best practice as a manufacturer, and if you are a manufacturer even with yourself as the sole employee you need to follow the legal implications of calling what you do manufacturing..I too am a consultant in small artisan or niche business start-ups on an international level, and most of my initial work with individuals is helping them set goals, compliance issues and in many, many cases decide the structure of their operation and how to term it , then project the feasibility of their ‘project’ and goals for at least the first two years as a manufacturing concern or small business or just as a hobbyist that wishes to break into the market as a jeweller. In some cases the client needs education to develop a broader skill set to understand the processes involved in finishing ready-to-wear jewellery products, or the skills necessary to cast their own findings or manufacture their own unique brooch closure, or an entirely new adapted tool and so on, down to identifying a supply chain and logistics planning to develop contracting internationally to produce a unique,newly designed concept in a bead line and the parts that can be added to it for others to make their own jewellery creations at home for recreation, or to ‘manufacture’ kits and put in bids on supplying kits to institutions, agencies, and the government that need to supply their occupational therapy or art therapy departments of various organizations, hospitals and rehab centres ( to name a few) and whether the bids qualify as minority businesses, disabled person owned businesses and/or other designations that help put your firm ahead or “get an edge” over large corporations being a small business,but a business that can fulfill their contracts in a timely manner.
There are a lot of factors to assess in considering becoming a manufacturer, or even a small business owner, versus remaining a hobbyist making less than 2000 dollars a year at making whatever it is you make, and having someone be honest enough with you to tell you whether your product is professional enough, your capacity for setting up a business much less a manufacturing concern, and then deciding on the market you wish to attract, how and where you will sell your product(s) and developing your brand- if it is worth developing in the first place.
Many states and communities have micro-enterprise programmes that are designed to help create small businesses and manufacturers in different areas of the country and the benefits and incentives available from hiring persons with a wide range of designations that make your business a win/win situation as an employer and small business owner and will, in many cases, after completing the programme, help you get funding, locations, partner you with mentoring corporate and private enterprises/sponsors and, in general help you become successful independently and in some cases match your earnings 2 to 1 for building your personal wealth and upgrading your situation or buying your own home as opposed to being a renter, or other incentives that allow you room for growth as a business owner.
Even though , as a hobbyist jewellery maker if your designs are unique and I mean truly unique, not just a different colour of something you have recreated from someone else’s design or something that cannot possibly be unique, or copyrighted (i.e.- a plain metal cuff bracelet you may have stamped with punches or or even tri-metal cuffs popular in India and the Occident, or wire work that has stones or beads appearing to be set in it as they can only be made one way and in general are similar to the other 100,000 maker’s out there in the world producing the same general idea) then you should go through the process of applying for a patent or copyright , whichever applies to your unique design or a new idea for a clasp or toggle, etc. Unique is hard to do in the jewelery business and unique designs are equally rare, considering jewelry making has not changed much in over 3,000 years! A good example is Charles Lewton-Brain’s “fold forming” method of metalsmithing, or one off art jewellery pieces like those made by Elizabeth Gaultieri of Zaffiro, or a new trigger locked oval clasp mechanism wiothout a spring so it can be soldered easily without the spring melting down as the component heats up! So check around and be honest with yourself as to whether you can handle the work it takes to manufacture something and whther you have the knowledge it takes to engage in that kind of business venture and the money to keep it going for at least two years while establishing your firm, or if that isn’t at all what you have in mind once you visit the FTC’s site and look over all the jewellery specializations,and your item qualifies as temporarily strung necklaces or finished jewellery or neither…Then to top it off in many states to call yourself a jewellery store or manufacturer you are required to have at least 6 types of security in your store to get insurance!
If you need a consultant feel free to contact me off this site and i’ll help you to the extent possible…

By: S

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 06:37:27 +0000

Thank you all for your advice and help! It is priceless to me!
I have a very innovative idea for a jewelry line, but I am kind of afraid that if I start promoting it online, on webpages like etsy.com people would start copying my concept. I’m not sure that this would happen, or that people would really love my jewelry, but I’m just speculating, and I want to be safe. I would like to find the right way to start promoting it, and to sell jewelry pieces, but also be able to grow and establish my jewelry line name.
If you have any advice and ideas how that would work, since you are all experienced in the business, please let me know!
Thank you so much for your time and help!!!

By: Sarah S.

Sarah S. — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 01:30:15 +0000

To my understanding, since jewelry is considered a useful item (similar to clothing) copyright does not apply to it. Of course, since this is the internet there is debate on that.

That said, if you can make your own charms and such, Do! You will feel much better about your work knowing everything is from your own mind and hand. But, if you are not able to do this – I’m not – then use the raw materials (beads, charms, chain…) that is available to you in the open market. It is always nice to list your materials. It lets customers know that you are using good quality items – but you want to do it minimally. While you won’t get in trouble for using Swarovski crystals, you can get in trouble for overusing the Swarovski name in your marketing materials.

Example: Starry Night bracelet – handmade using artisan beads and Swarovski crystals.

Starry Night Swarovski Crystal Bracelet – handmade using artisan beads and Swarovski crystals.

The first simply lists Swarovski crystals as a material, the second implies a relationship with Swarovski.

By: Jules

Jules — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:32:27 +0000

Yes Pandora has its own designers so do most manufacturers who put their name on the pieces. If you use findings and charms which are available then creating an ‘original’ piece it’s yours. If you’re making a bracelet using all Pandora charms, then you need to disclose it because you didn’t make the Pandora charms. An example would be making a bracelet using Swarovski crystals; you made the bracelet however, you sell it as “…made with Swarovski crystals”
I purchase hundreds of sterling silver charms and findings from Italy however, when I make my bracelets I don’t use the manufactures name because he/they are not in the business of making jewelry, just the findings and charms.
Hope this helps.

By: Jim Davis

Jim Davis — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:54:03 +0000

I am not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure that there is no legal problem if you buy component materials (beads, clasps, wires, etc) from supplier companies, and then assemble them into jewelry that was “created” in the deep reaches of your mind, you are free to sell those finished products without concern about legal issues. Obviously if you try to copy a very distinctive and unique piece you might be getting close to stepping on someone’s toes, but I don’t think you really have anything to worry about.

If this was a big risk or big issue, there would be a whole bunch of folks like you and me in court, or worse, the slammer.

Good luck
Jim

Comments on: How Do I Legally Manufacture My Designs?

By: AuSmith

By: S

By: Sarah S.

By: Jules

By: Jim Davis