From there to CAD
I had been fascinated by the prospect of computer design for a number of years before I actually embraced it. Finding a voice—perhaps a new one or with a different tone—by using a completely new approach to the design process was intimidating in many of the same ways learning a new language can be. It is difficult for someone who is very fluid in their native language to accept the fact that for some time during the learning process, they will communicate like a three-year-old. In addition, I took a road that was, in its implementation, perhaps more difficult. There are many jewellery-specific applications that make the design process easier, although they may ultimately make it harder to find a voice in that they compel one to use the same preforms as everyone else with that particular application. For the same reason I refused to look in jewellery store windows when I began my design career, I chose a bare-bones application that allowed me to find my way without necessarily walking down a well-worn jewellery path.
I was lucky in that once I embraced CAD, I was able to integrate it into my design process a little at a time, using it first to make the simplest objects or ones that did not necessarily require much of a voice. A simple band with a phrase is a good example. As time has progressed and with many more hours invested into the CAD experience, I find myself developing my voice within this new language of CAD. Voice rediscovered!
