Blah Blah Blah Tiffany

[BrodiesLVMama]

In all honesty I am not exactly sure how it works but as long as the pieces do not bear the Tiffany name, they can make the same designs and use the same materials. At a jewelry show in NYC, there was table after table of jewelers that had tons of it. Almost every single piece is made in China and Spain (apparently the cheapest labor and most plentiful silver supplies) and then distributed, redistributed, etc. etc....most of the time they are all selling the same item that started out at the same factory as tweny other tables who bought from 20 other sources to "resell or wholesale" as they refer to it. That's why everythign starts out from the factories at about 1.00 and ends up being 300.

 

[CastoCreations]

winternight...outright "copying" of a design is just wrong (and illegal) but it's not like someone making a link sterling silver bracelet is unique. Not including the tiffany's logo/charm I can make the exact same thing for way less. In fact one of my coworkers saw a triple strand sterling silver bracelet from Tiffany's. It was lovely, but they were asking something like $500! For a very basic bracelet. Something like that is easily created by an indie designer for much less (more like $200).

Unless the work is made in China my work is generally less expensive...in fact my mom said she saw a plain silver (not sterling even) link chain at Macy's the other day for $80! For base metal!!! Ick! I've been making FINE silver link chains and mine are going to range from $75 to $200 - for FINE silver, not base metal. I can only imagine what they'd charge for an actual precious metal.

Anyhoo...sometimes an indy designer will have to charge more because their work isn't mass produced. Therefore it's more rare. I know that most of my pieces are going to be one of a kind or limited edition...and I don't ever want to do mass production so I'll probably always be a small fish.

 

[chloehandbags]

I was actually in Neiman Marcus when a lady pulled a ring for me to try (I never buy jewelry from places such as this, but she saw me carrying an Hermes bag, and was on me like a fly to a piece of cheese). She was staring at my rings. Two of them were 5-6 carat pink tourmalines set in intricate yellow gold settings, made by a close family friend. She asked me why I hadn't cleaned them lately. I told her they weren't dirty, the stones contained natural inclusions. She SCOFFED, lol! Our family friends have a giant jewelry collection that literally takes up multiple safes and lock boxes, and she wears nothing but included emeralds (they design much of their own jewelry). She prefers a natural look to some of her stones, and I picked up the habit from her when it comes to the tourmaline I wear. Never thought it was so faux-pas

How rude!

It's certainly not a faux pas over here.

Some of the biggest jewellery houses, intentionally, select included gemstones for some of their more naturalistic and/or unusual designs.

She's obviously just ignorant.

 

[sputnik]

tiffany does have some very nice designs - i adore the frank gehry line for instance. but a lot of it people buy for the name and status symbol and the designs are classic to the point of being boring. but that happens with a lof of designer things... not to be mean, but most people care more for the statement and for being able to brag about having something with a chic name so people know it was expensive... usually the same people that talk about money and how much things cost all the time and care more about what brand something is than whether or not they actually like it.

 

[CastoCreations]

My goodness neeya...I agree that inclusions add a little something extra. My wedding ring diamond (no longer with me - stolen - boo hoo!) had these great tiny bubbles in a spot that actually seemed to add sparkle. I loved those inclusions!