Research and Design at GIA
“There wasn’t much to start with on this project, so we had to hit the books to figure it all out.”
After watching the film “Queen Christina” many times, hoping for a clear view of the pendant, which never happened - we then decided to think like the costume designer. These images just could not tell the complete story.
“We decided that we should be making something a Queen would wear - so we started our research with Swedish royal crowns.”
Researching Historical Jewelry at GIA
Swedish Wedding Crown - Walters Art Gallery
Research is the corner stone to getting the design just right. We can find images from the internet, showing the multitude of possibilities. But when it comes to quality design and research you need to have the real thing not just a Pinterest board of related images.
GIA, has a fabulous library for jewelry design research. GIA better known as Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, California, is a nonprofit gem research institute dedicated to protecting the public by providing education and objective, unbiased gem evaluations. The library staff was very helpful in our research. For more information about GIA check their site: www.gia.edu
Once we had a design direction, we then focused on finding similar images. These historical resources were used to support our design concept. We then complied them into a creative story board, an essential tool in the design process.
Greta Garbo's' research
Detailed close-up
Design Development:
After reviewing the photos and carefully studying the details we drew several options for the pendant design.
Since the resources we had were all in black & white, it took some time to figure out if the pendant was mainly gold or mainly silver. After careful consideration we decide to go with the silver.
Greta Garbo's design development number 9
Greta Garbo's design development for depth of design
Greta Garbo's research - reviewing finishes
Our next step was to create the components that would be needed to make the pendant.
