Why is your Jewellery Soooo Expensive?
Why Studio Jewellers struggle to survive.
Why is your Jewellery SO expensive?
This was a question I was asked innocently by someone the other day, I was both taken aback by how direct the question is but also how honest. The thing is handmade jewellery is WAY more expensive than mass produced (crap) why, because its made by one person who has to source the raw materials, design the piece, make the piece, pay for packaging, do all the marketing...and make something so skilfully, so that it doesn’t tarnish over time or the stones fall out. Because lets be honest not only do you not want the bad rep that the above would give you but who wants the hassle, not me!!
My mass produced silver jewellery is Plated! yes you heard that Right, it is Rhodium (platinol group of metals) to give it that high polished silver look which well isn’t’ even silver. over time this plating will wear off revealing the dull oxidised silver underneath the plate. Yuk!
As you can probably see from my style of writing I like honesty, transparency. I don’t want to buy something that has been so badly made its covered in some other metal to disguise its poor quality.
Why does it need to be plated.....well this is where Jewellery making gets a bit nerdy...Sterling silver, which is an alloy of pure silver (92.5% fine silver or pure silver and 7.5% copper) the copper is added to give fine silver some extra strength necessary when making rings cuffs etc out of silver otherwise it will bend and dent way too easily.
The problem with this alloy of silver (sterling silver) is that the copper in it if not properly finished by the jeweller will rise to the surface of the piece over time, this is called fire-stain and it will result in a dull grey finish to your jewellery. Fire-stain can removed but requires a degree of work, work as we all know costs money! time is money etc. Basically the top 25microns or 0.025mm or the silver need to be filed off....this is not only time consuming but is often tricky to do without either weakening the piece too much, or damaging the design. So the piece often just gets plated.
In addition to this when you buy a handmade piece of work the maker has to do the following calculations as to how to price the piece, so as not to be working for less than minimum wage, which by the way most do.
Wholesale price: Cost price (cost of materials and labour cost) x 1.5
Retail Price : Cost Price x 2.5.
you might think well i’m a friend surely she can sell it to me for less than that. The answer is no. As if you are lucky enough as a jeweller to have found a retail outlet willing to stock your work, WELL DONE!!!. And you have agreed the retail price they are going to sell your work for, you can’t undercut them (go back on your deal with them) but selling the piece for less.
I have heard stories where individuals have made pieces and marketed them at a price they would be happy to get for it, to have a big store like Liberties commission them to make a load for them to sell, which has resulted in the individual working for nothing! and in some cases loosing money. You therefore must stick to the above formula, if a gallery doesn’t think they can get your retail price for your item, they are wrong Gallery for your work. Period full stop.