You get what you pay for.... September 26 2014

This a post that I've been meaning to do for a while now and it concerns something that most of us can be fairly sensitive to- prices! Why does some jewellery cost more than others? My thoughts:

(1) When you buy from independent designers/ brands like Lai, please know that it costs us so much more to get our jewellery manufactured than the big names in the business. Since we buy in small quantities, material like stones, pearls etc cost us more as does the labour. Fortunately we do not have retail, advertising, PR and other overheads and manage to do our best to keep our prices reasonable.

(2) What is the material that you are buying? Is it sterling silver or other base metal like brass. Not to say one is better than the other but there will be obvious difference in cost when you use precious metal than when you use base metal.
Amrapali, for instance, has produced the latest designs in their collaboration with Manish Arora in brass where as their previous collaborations with the designer were crafted in silver. Many other established designers use both precious and base metal in their work.....the information is all there and as an aware buyer the onus is on you to know what you are buying. And not just metal- even stones & pearls etc. that are used- are they real or synthetic/ faux/ fake/ glass?

As a part of our design services, we work with brass too, for our wholesale clients, but just to keep things simple- Lai, as a brand is, solely about sterling silver jewellery.

(3) Learn to recognize and appreciate hand/ manual skills. Enameling, granulation (rava), fretwork, stone settings are amongst common handcrafted techniques. Does a piece of jewellery have any of these or it is a simple cast piece? And once you become aware of these finer details of jewellery making- please be willing to pay extra for them!

(4) Exclusivity will come at a cost. Period. No designer can be expected to slog and produce only 10 pieces of each design and have the same markup as that of a mass produced design produced in 1000s.

(5) Love the design? Your heart is set on it? Buy it! If you really love a design, you will find that you will wear it more often- which mathematically translates to lesser cost per wear! Paying a little extra for good design will never cause you buyer's remorse.....I can promise you that!

Did I miss any point? Any designer/ design entrepreneur here who would like to add their bit too?! Lets talk! :)

Originally posted on our Facebook page on 27th Sept. 2014.