From Silver Print to Silver Jewelry

From Silver Print to Silver Jewelry

By James Allen Silver Jewelry


The Jewelers of America (JA) New Designer Award is possibly the most prestigious award for emerging designers in the United States. Belle was delighted at winning the New Designer Award last week, something she would never have guessed just a few years ago.

Belle used to be a photographer. In college, her major was Studio Art with a concentration in photography. She worked as a photographer's assistant, contributing to the Historic Architectural Building Surveys, which is a photographic record for the Library of Congress, and later she worked on her own as a photographer. But as the photography industry moved more and more into digital, Belle felt less and less passionate about photography and started to consider other options.

Since college, she had been doing beaded jewelry on a small scale for friends and family. As business was going pretty well, she decided to go to the Farmers Market.

"So I brought the picnic table from my backyard and put it up there. The fee was only $10, and it was really fun!" says Belle. It inspired her to attend an evening metal smithing class, and then the Christmas fair at Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California. The fair earned her "a lot of money,” she laughs, “or what I thought was a lot of money." This gave her the courage to leave her employment and start working on her own, combining jewelry making with freelance photography.

Soon, however, Belle started feeling that jewelry making was her true passion, and while her jewelry was OK, it was not as good as she wanted it to be. So she decided to go back to school.

After her studies at the Revere Academy's Jewelry Technician Program, she was
certified by Jewelers of America and started to work with gold and diamonds as a bench jeweler at Studio 311 north of San Francisco. While working there four days a week, she began to build her own line in her spare time at home. During her year at Studio 311 she gained entry into two galleries on consignment. After getting married and moving back to Los Angeles, where she had gone to college, she started working fulltime on her line. Word spread quickly, and before long her silver jewelry line was being sold by six galleries.
THE NICHE AWARD RING:

It is intriguing to reflect on the fact that black and white photography is all about silver, as silver particles are embedded both in the film and in the paper to create the blacks in a print and the whites in a negative film. When the artist develops a photographic print, the picture emerges on the white paper as the light-exposed silver particles are oxidized through a chemical process.

Creating black and white art photography was Belle's absolute favorite, and the disappointment of having to move into digital photography gave her second thoughts. While it may seem like she left photography, one may as well say that she stayed with silver as photography moved into digital. She is still oxidizing her silver, just like she did when working with photographs.

After her work reached potential customers in galleries, she found out about tradeshows. "I didn't even know about them before" she exclaims. She also started applying for awards. A few tradeshows later, and after about one year, she had 25 galleries buying her line and two awards on the shelf, along with a grant for $5,000 and a lot of publicity. The awards, the grant, and the publicity gave her the encouragement to come to the JA summer fair in New York’s Javits Center last week, despite it being a rather big investment.
SIGNATURE PIECE: “Closed Circle Pendant” is one of Belle Brooke’s signature pieces. It is an oxidized silver pendant with set garnet and citrine. (Courtesy of Belle Brooke Designs Inc.)

"It is all about working hard and taking risks," she says. Attending her first national jewelry tradeshow last week earned her the most respected award she could wish for and she hopes sales will follow. When asked what her dream year would be like, she replies: "Well, this has been my dream year, really!"

Belle Brooke says that the money she invested in going to the tradeshows is starting to pay off now, and that when you start, it is a big investment and you don't really see the returns right away. It is something you have to build up.

I mean, it is not like you go to a show, earn $20,000, and go home and celebrate. It is not like that. It is low profit and it is really painful. I think it is still going to take me another couple of years to recoup my investments, and by then things will be going really well." She beams as the crystal trophy she won sparkles in the background.

Meeting Belle Brooke at the JA fair and learning about her path to success was an inspiring experience. You just can't help but wish her continued success for years to come, as you see her creations that stay true to her love of contrasts, and the twinkle in her eye despite her hard work.