Precious Metals: Metalsmithing

Every creative field has leaders and followers, and jewelry and metalsmithing are no exceptions. Every month, join master goldsmith Alan Revere as he finds those who have sparked the imagination and moved the industry forward

by Alan Revere

We need innovators. They bring new sparks to our lives, move us forward by introducing new things and new ideas. Innovators aren't satisfied with what they see around them, and they do something about it. Freud, Picasso, Ford, Hitchcock, Lalique, Lenin and Lennon are all familiar innovators.

Why are these innovations?

Here are four nominees as innovators, along with their innovative products. Do you know why?

1. Jose Hess: Heart Pin

2. Michael Good: Anticlastic Earrings

3. Steve Kretchmer: Tension Ring

4. Whitney Boin: Post Ring

Innovators may or may not be the originators of new concepts; they can also be the ones who bring those new concepts to a larger audience. Lalique was not the first enamelist, but he carried that medium forward in a significant way, developed it and made it accessible. John Lennon didn't write the first rock 'n' roll song, but he sure did a lot to transform the style and interpret it in his own way.

Replicators

We also need replicators. Replicators complement innovators, and each one is essential to the other.

Replicators enable societies to sustain themselves with continuity and with harmony. They include copiers, reproducers, agents, publishers, factory workers, marketers, admirers, fans, supporters and consumers.

Innovators contribute new ideas, products and services, which propel society forward.

Replicators support innovators by their actions and provide stability.

Who are the innovators in jewelry? What have they brought us and why is it important? Each month in this space, I will profile an innovator in the jewelry industry. Some of my subjects will be designers, others will be technicians. Some have explored new materials, others pioneered new processes. Some are well-known industry leaders, others are unknowns working alone in tiny workshops. But each selected individual will exemplify the concept of innovation, bringing something new to the community.

Any smart innovator will agree innovators need replicators. And all of us replicators appreciate that we need innovators, even if they do make us feel a bit uncomfortable some of the time. And just as this symbiotic agreement finds balance in the universe, it also finds its balance in each and every microcosm in the universe, including the world of jewelry.

Are you an innovator? Do you know an innovator? If you think so, send a one-page letter with a non-returnable image describing that innovator and his or her innovation to Alan Revere at Professional Jeweler, 1500 Walnut St., Suite 1200, Philadelphia, PA 19102.