An eye for beauty

Nantana Dulyanai says the charm of her career lies in the moment when every process is finished. "Once I see its beauty with my own eyes, I say to myself: 'Wow! Did that really come out of my own head?' That's my motivation to continue."

Her work brings in Bt3,500 to Bt140,000 a piece. Guess what she does for a living.

Give up? She's a jewellery-designer.

Nantana works for Harmony By Hand Ltd. The 24-year-old got her start in the field two years ago, after completing a bachelor's degree in jewellery design at Srinakharinwirot University.

She mostly does sets of pendant, earrings, ring and necklace for the international market.

"Because jewellery is made from expensive materials like diamonds and rubies you must pay attention to detail. The more flamboyant the pattern, the more your work is worth," says Nantana.

It all starts with an order from a customer or a conversation with the customer about the concept of a piece.

"Customers generally have at least some idea of what they want in their minds before they come to us," she says.

"What we do then is sketch it on paper, trying to get as close as possible to what the customer wants."

But there's more to it than that: the designer oversees the whole production process.

"You can't just hand it over to the maker when the design is approved by the customer. It is necessary to be involved in every process to make sure every detail is exactly as you sketched it," says Nantana.

Generally the design takes only three or four days, but a piece can be three months in the making.

Nantana has created more than a hundred pieces. She not only works to order but also makes wholly new designs herself.

However, life is easier with a customer's idea to work from.

"It's tough when you design something new, because what you think is beautiful may not be to other people's liking, and that won't sell," she says, "which saps your confidence."

The average salary of a jewellery designer with no experience in a private company is Bt10,000-Bt15,000 a month, and an experienced designer can make Bt30,000-Bt40,000.

It can be more if a company pays the designer a commission.

All you really need is a talent for drawing. Nantana has a degree in the subject, but one of her colleagues went straight into it from being a salesperson.

"Being alive to fashion is an advantage, but it's not everything. You shouldn't be so much of a trend slave that you can't do classic pieces that can be worn for any occasion," she says.

Jewellery is about beauty, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

"What you need is just a sense of beauty, a discerning eye for what is and what is not beautiful," she says. "Then you can be sure that what you've thought up and created will catch someone's fancy."

Story by Watchara Saengsrisin

Photo by Anan Chantarasut

The Nation