Quality and Integrity in Jewelry

What is quality? Where is it? Why does it matter? So many people in the jewelry industry talk about quality; high quality, low quality, quality jeweler, quality diamonds, quality gemstones, quality repairs, fine jewelry and on an on. Half the advertisements I see for jewelry stores talk about quality, in fact most stores say they are the highest quality or carry the highest quality. What does all this mean?

After seeing and hearing 'quality' traipsed around the jewelry industry since I can remember (which must be a long time ago because the first time I was behind a jewelry store counter I was 2 weeks old) the word 'quality' completely lost its meaning. How can every other jewelry store be the highest quality when the term stands not for the common but the standouts?
This idea of quality played constantly in my mind as I was developing the concept for the Abbey. I wanted the studio to be good, and the word quality kept coming into my mind as I wanted to define what goodness was (I hate empty and meaningless descriptions). When I went to look up what quality meant, I was engulfed. There are just as many descriptions of the word as there are advertisements that use it. I knew there had to be more.

I decided to read 'Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' by Robert Pirsig again as the book is devoted to the philosophical exploration of quality as undefinable. It truly is, quality is a part of everything yet it cannot be separated from what is being analyzed for quality. Everything has its own quality. Yet how can quality not exist on its own? I can look at a piece of jewelry and say it is quality or not, I can definitely feel the quality. Another person could look at the same piece and notice if it had quality or not as well. I was stumped.

The breakthrough came when I sat down with a good philosopher friend to discuss it, and he told me I was on the wrong path. Quality can be anything, so you can't get to it. He said I have to discover where it comes from. Quality doesn't exist in what we are observing, quality is merely the reflection of what it was that created it. This was brilliant! This is why it was so difficult to describe and it could have an infinite number of definitions at the same time.

Quality is the reflection of what created it. How is this important to jewelry? Because everything we put into what we do is what we get out of it. When I see true jewelry of quality, it is because a lot of thought and care went into creating it that way. This is the difference between a one of a kind Harry Winston piece made with exquisite attention to detail and a piece from the local jewelry mart that was made in a sweatshop in China. Somebody cared about making the Harry Winston piece, whereas a sweatshop piece was created with the desire for money. A big difference that can actually be perceived even in a writing.

Quality is the reflection of the people who create the jewelry. It is a reflection of their skill, their craft, their knowledge and thoughts while working on it, it is a reflection of their souls and very essence. I realized that to create good quality jewelry, we must first be the goodness we want to put into it. To improve the jewelry, I had to improve myself and my team.

Thus, integrity became all encompassing for me. Integrity is the sum of who we are. It is our hearts, what we care about. It is our minds, what we think about. It is our hands, what we do with what we know and what we care about.

With Everything.

Justinder



Photo by Justinder Singh

What's in a name

I chose the name Abbey because I am inspired by Abbeys of the middle ages. The original Abbeys were created by those seeking spiritual purity who felt the need to get away from the distractions of everyday life. They would wander out into the wilderness to focus on their spiritual connections. It was in these lonely places where they had no distractions and could focus on their spiritual journeys. They would take nothing with them other than what was absolutely essential to survival. Others would follow or naturally end up in the same place. They created communities of spiritually focused men or women. These communities were not about living together, rather accepting the presence of those around and realizing all were focused on the same goal of being free to pursue the purity of the spirit. Needs were few, and times not spent in study or religious services was spent in hard labor to provide for themselves, what was left was given to charity. Their work become another avenue of their spiritual journey. Their labors and endeavors were tedious, demanding, exhausting, and most importantly pure. It is this common goal of leaving distraction to attain the true spirit through hard work that benefits others as well as the self that has captured me.
The studio is a place where jewelry artists can get away from the distractions of the mainstream jewelry industry where sales, cutting corners, rushed work, and cheap production are the norm. It is a place for pure creations from the heart, not simply to make money, because it is the only thing in our hearts we are capable of. The quality of the created piece does not originate within itself, it originates within those whose hearts, minds and hands created it. It is their integrity that produces the quality. By creating an environment that fosters the spirit, we naturally foster integrity and can create the best of what is in our hearts. Every hand, every thought, and every feeling of those involved in creating a piece leave a print on it and it will carry that energy forever. I am creating the Abbey so the energy we pour into our craft will be true, free of distraction and carry the love of spirits who give nothing less than everything.

With Everything,

Justinder



Photo by Love Jeji - Scotland 11/2010