The Acailawen Designs’ website (www.acailawendesigns.com) is now officially the top ranked website for “green couture jewelry” on Google, Yahoo & Bing!

The site is also ranked seventh for the broader search term “green couture” on both Google and Yahoo, while holding the 10th place position on Bing. Both rankings place Acailawen Designs on the first page of search engine results for this popular search term, which also encompasses eco-friendly designer clothing.

Results on the three search engines for “couture jewelry” are more scattered, due to a larger range in the number of search engine results. Acailawen Designs is currently ranked on the 3rd page on Bing, 7th page on Google and 11th page on Yahoo. Yahoo yields the largest number of results for the search term at over 63 million, which accounts for the lower placement.

Acailawen Design’s search engine rankings have continued to climb steadily since the site’s redesign last summer.

[Updated: July 4, 2010 -
Redirected link to album on new
Green Couture Jewelry page on Facebook]
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I’ve added the first in a series of “Sneak Peek” albums to the Acailawen Designs’ page on Facebook. The new albums are meant to give Facebook users a preview of what I’m working on right on their home page feeds – from new materials to works in progress to what’s going on in the studio or at the designer’s desk. While I will be adding some sneak peeks to The Buzz in the coming months, much of the content provided on our Facebook page is exclusive for our Facebook followers.

The first of these new preview albums is Sneak Peek: Gemstone Rough for Cabs & Carving, which highlights some of the raw gemstone materials I’ll be working with in the studio for current and upcoming collections. I’ll be adding new albums to highlight these gemstone materials as they’re being crafted into designer cabochons and gemstone carvings, as well as in finished designs, over the coming weeks. Additional albums that highlight my metal work, use of recycled and natural materials and more will be added in the future. I will let you all know here in the Facebook Highlights section of The Buzz when these and other new albums are added, so be sure to check back often.

I just finished watching another enlightening video on Matrix 3D (v6.0) Jewelry Design Software by Gemvision. The application is meant to offer a simplified method of designing virtual 3D jewelry “on-screen while generating a detailed color preview image that can be printed or emailed” – a definite plus for designers wishing to provide accurate visual renderings of a jewelry design before its produced. The images I have viewed from this 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) software application are most definitely impressive. Equally intriguing are some of the renderings I have seen come out of another similar 3D program for jewelry designers – RhinoGold (v2.0). Both programs are built on Rhino’s impressive 3D rendering engine. The quality and precision of the designs produced from these applications makes them both worth further investigation.

I’ve been considering expanding into 3D jewelry design, in addition to my current jewelry illustration methods, as it offers a great way to provide very precise design ideas to clients. Some of the renderings coming out of these 3D CAD programs for jewelry designers are so clean and precise (when produced by a skilled 3D designer) that they could be mistaken for actual photographs of finished work. This leaves little room for interpretation. I’m fortunate to have already developed solid jewelry illustration skills to present accurate designs to clients and I regularly use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, in addition to traditional illustration media, to present my designs to clients. But, it’s hard to beat a 3D rendering so precise as to mirror a finished design BEFORE the piece is ever produced.

Another advantage gained from using a 3D CAD application to render out designs lies in the area of volume design production. Final 3D designs can exported out to a 3D CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) program for fabrication. While this isn’t relevant in the creation of one-of-a-kind designs, it is very useful when designing a line for production. Since I have been investigating the addition of a small to medium scale production line to the Acailawen Designs’ label at some point in the future, considering the use of a 3D jewelry design program would make sense regardless.

The two major drawbacks with adding a 3D Jewelry Design program to my current array of tools as a designer are (a) the rather steep learning curve (taking time away from an already busy design schedule) and (b) the notable cost associated with these programs. It’s always good to thoroughly research your options before making any long-term decisions.

I’m currently working on developing a design concept for a series of inter-related green couture collections for release in 2010 and beyond. The new collections will intertwine with the Earthly Desires collection, which launched in Autumn 2009. Collectively, these “Elementals Collections” merge mythology and fantasy into elementally-inspired designs that are non-seasonally dependent. The launch dates for the new collections are still unknown, as there is much design work yet to be done before any of the new collections are ready for release and there are still many designs to be added to the Earthly Desires collection. But, there is much in store for you all in the coming months and well beyond, so stay tuned for details.

As a jewelry designer, I’m am quite fortunate to have the option of designing collections that are not seasonally driven, unlike clothing and other accessories. The fashion industry has always been driven by seasons, with forecasting of color trends, styles and patterns determined by industry insiders 18 months or more in advance. With jewelry, this is left more or less up to the tastes, styles and interests of the jewelry designer. We have much more free reign in our designs. This is particularly true of one-of-a-kind and limited edition couture jewelry designs. Many jewelry companies do not offers ‘collections’ in the traditional sense, and many that do focus on particular themes, much more than the season in which the collections are released. We also have the luxury of adding new designs to an existing collection over time, simply because a large percentage of jewelry does not become outdated nearly as quickly as clothing and other accessories. Many jewelry designs are timeless, meant to be worn from season to season and year to year.

While I have designed many out-of-collection designs, and my custom design work on contract falls into this category, I now mostly design in collections. Acailawen Designs’ jewelry collections focus around uniform concepts or themes. A collection launched during a particular season is not bound to be worn during that season. This is quite different from the “seasonal collections” defined by the fashion industry. The primary difference is that I don’t retire a collection when its launch season ends. In fact, I often continue to add new pieces to an existing line for many months, or even years, after it’s launched. I may even add sub-collections to an existing collection to take it in new directions. I have come to favor the release of collections in phases, as the concepts behind the the collections grow, expand or become more defined. This further exemplifies the timeless nature of jewelry that is meant to be worn for years to come. A great piece of jewelry is a long term investment that you should enjoy as much tomorrow as you do today.

Stay tuned for more insights and news on Acailawen Designs’ jewelry collections for 2010 and beyond, here in The Buzz.

I regularly network with other designers, stylists, photographers and creatives in the fashion and jewelry industries, both online and off. A friend recommended that I look into the various networking communities on Ning, with which I was unfamiliar. In August, I joined Ning and began researching the networks available for designers to network professionally. I found quite a few of interest, which I ultimately joined. I haven’t been posting much to my blogs there due to time constraints, but I do network behind the scenes. If you’re on any of the following Ning Networks, feel free to look me up and say hello.

Ning Fashion Networks

• Fashion Industry Network
• Ethical Fashion Forum

Ning Jewelry Networks

• Jewelry Designer Network
• Jewelry Designer Network
• The Jewelry Artist Network
• Green Jewelry Network

Related Ning Networks

• Mixed Media Art Network

While working through the initial stages of building a new green design studio, we were met with an unexpected opportunity – to move back to a neighborhood that we absolutely adore and sorely missed. The downside is, we’ve moved into a smaller place and I am now left without studio work space. Sometimes unforeseen opportunities pose interesting challenges. For the time being, my plans to build my ideal green design studio are on hold. I’ll work around it, but it will take a little while to get everything sorted. Right now I’m working on inventory post-move, while sorting out storage and work space needs, until we come up with another suitable studio location. I’m continuing to design more new pieces for the Earthly Desires collection, but their production will probably be on hold until after the first of the year.

The Green Jewelry Design Resource Guide [The Green Guide]:
A Resource Guide for Designers & Consumers
by Andrea Acailawen
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In my latest article for my column on Handmade News [HMN], Sustainable Business: It’s More Than Being Green, I go beyond the concept of environmentally responsible business practices and delve into what it really means to be a sustainable business. Sustainability means longevity. In the case of being a green business, it not only means making a long-term commitment to reducing your carbon footprint, but also being in business for the long haul.

UPDATE: Due to time constraints, I’ve decided to take a break from writing as a columnist for Handmade News [HMN]. I will continue to provide insightful articles in The Green Guide here in The Buzz on an ongoing basis as my design schedule permits.