The new 3d jewelry design software flogged to jewelry stores and jewelers will not eliminate the artist, the jewelry designer.
The marketing blitz is on and jewelry stores are being inundated with the idea that custom jewelry is in and stock jewelry is out. The scheme being spread is that store stock is not necessary anymore and a customer can be served by virtual inventory that can be created in desktop or touch screen computers on the store counter. The next logical step in the evolution of such software is that the jeweler is not needed anymore, since there will be next generation software available on the internet for everybody to use with which one can build his/her own jewelry virtually. Everybody will be able to build Lego jewelry.
This speaks against the plot: The learning curve for these software is too steep still, and most jewelers do not want to spent time learning something new. For sure they won't invest into something that has the potential to eliminate their craft and make sales personnel out of them. The smart jeweler realizes that if he propagates the scheme, he is not needed anymore leaving the provider to cash all the profit centers involved in jewelry manufacturing. The jeweler is relegated to the very end of the process to scratch out a living depending how good a salesperson he is.
The part libraries will continuously be expanded until they become incomprehensible even for jewelers. This will eventually lead to the complete bypass of jewelry manufacturers and jewelry stores as the end-client can design himself and place an order on the internet for direct shipment to the client's door.
The 3d jewelry designer need not to worry. True jewelry designers take into account the complexities of manufacturing so that a piece can be manufactured and finished in the most economical fashion. Sales clerks do not have that knowledge. By using small parts and sticking them together, no designer one becomes.
