You Can Knock Off But You Can't Catch Me

People have always knocked me off, it's just how it is. When I designed clothes I saw almost my entire line knocked off once when I walked into a department store, among many other minor knock offs. I've been running into knock offs in my jewelry designs too.

People tend to end up with the same designs using similar materials and shapes and are influenced by the same trends, and it's perfectly natural. That is called collective conclusion, but that is not what I mean here. A while ago I happened on a site I had come across at the beginning of my jewelry designing career and thought to myself, if I could only end up like her with a professional looking site and nice looking jewelry I would have made it. In the mean time, I had gotten my name and style out there, and now I see a specific design of mine on her site. When a particular design and idea doesn't follow a line of thought that matches the rest of a cohesive collection I know it's a copy of another's design. That, and that it happens to look exactly like a set of mine. We are both in the same ads and on other sites, so I can see where the thread is. I was surprised at first, but I can't deny there was satisfaction too, in someone I thought was a respected designer being inspired by me enough to knock me off is a definitely a form of making it for me.

Recently a designer of another line told me the person she hired to make her jewelry for her copied her signature designs and started her own line with it. The woman is now in the same shows and market places competing with her. I had forgotten all this until I happened to see the knock off artist's blog and saw my almost exact words in a blog entry on her blog. I also came across a bracelet of hers while flipping through a magazine at the checkout line that is an exact copy of my bracelet from a previous collection. Wow. The un-inspired is really un-inspired!

My Rings, as mentioned before, have inspired countless people to do the same. It's understandable. They are irresistible even to me. As always, the knock offs continue to happen with regularity. My thought is, you can copy, but you can't keep up. I only have unlimited designs to draw from. I don't have the time to develop even my good designs completely before moving into the next design because I'm bored by then. I always respect a designer who has their own ideas, and you can see it clearly in their line. It's devoid of repeats of what's in everyone else's line. So go ahead and knock off, copy and wait for my next collection to make your next collection. With the jewelry market so saturated it really takes an inspired designer to stand out and make it in the long run.

Translucent Glow

Here is another of my favorites right now, a translucent sea foam green chalcedony set.

Crosses and Metals IV

Just gotta do one more on Crosses and Metals. I love this latest set of golden gold and light blue together. Instead of posting individual images I thought I'd post one of my new banners so you can see them together.