Bench Jeweler - Anatomy of A Jewelry Shop

Anatomy of A Jewelry Shop

It will be obvious that any manufacturer of any product will design a workshop to their own liking, and it may defy convention. There are, however, some typical categories that most shops in the jewelry trade will employ. If it is a manufacturing workshop, likely it will begin with the casting room, then to the bench jewelers or goldsmiths, perhaps to the polishing department and maybe to stonesetting. Generally there will be at least one model maker, who may also do special orders, or there may be a dedicated special order department and sometimes even repair, depending on the size of the shop. Usually there is also at least one foreman and also a front office handling management. In addition there might be engravers, enamelists, perhaps a machine shop and others, depending on the product being made. A good shop behaves as a team, with each department doing their part and the work passing back and forth between them as needed. In this situation each worker is a specialist at their job, and though they may have a broader background that becomes useful at times, they generally will not enter into another department's expertise. Each department also recognizes the worker's abililities, so that there may be ten workers called "goldsmiths", but one will have simple skills, and another may have greatly higher ability, and so the more or less challenging jobs are assigned accordingly.