Modern Jewelry Design
In 1989 I bought my first CAD (computer-assisted design) software program. I had an original Mac computer which had less storage and computing power than the phone that resides in my pocket and a software program called Powerdraw. It was a simple 2d drafting program for architects that allowed me to take the first steps in a journey that would completely transform the way I created custom jewelry for my clients. More powerful computers with colour monitors became available, and design software added the third dimension. It was time to buy a more powerful computer and a new program called FormZ. This software allowed me to rotate, flip, look inside and develop new engagement ring designs in a 3d work space. I worked with this program for many years its weakness was that it was an architectural program lacking customized jewelry design functionality. The new millennium brought a new developer of 3d design tools for jewelry design and creation. Gemvision Matrix, now at version 9, is revolutionary software that perfects the art of custom design jewelry. Matrix allows me to quickly explore concepts for custom designed jewellery, primarily engagement and wedding rings. The accuracy of CAD designs allows my clients to see what their unique engagement ring is going to look like before we move to the creation stage. It allows us to answer critical design questions before the making of the piece such as is the diamond too high or perhaps too low this can be changed in the software quickly. How would the design look if the accent diamonds were larger or a different shape? We can view these possibilities with our state of the art software.