The Art of Color in Jewelry Design

Beads come in a gorgeous array of colors and materials. When we want to go beyond simple monochromatic designs, color theory comes into play. While studying architecture in graduate school, I became interested in the the color theory teachings of painter and theorist, Josef Albers. Since then, I have been incorporating innovative color combinations in my jewelry designs.

If you would like to do the same, there is no need to go back to design school, simply look for inspiration in your everyday life - a silk print at a clothing boutique or the backdrop of a magazine ad. You can also look at fine jewelry designs and translate the gemstone colors into similar Swarovski or Czech glass tones. You should even experiment with color combinations that you don't think will look good, they often will evolve into the perfect combination.

When working with color combinations, think about proportion.
Sometimes two or three colors should be used in equal proportion and in other cases you should choose one main color and use other colors just as accents.

If you need help with color combinations, take a look at our Jewelry Design Color Palette where you will find a few color combinations that I have put together to assist in your jewelry design process.