Research on the Design Concept of Pandora Jewelry and Its Enlightenments to Entry Lux Jewelry Design ()
1. Introduction: Pandora’s Profile and Its Stylistic Position
As a young Danish jewelry brand born quietly in 1982, Pandora did not have a tremendous advantage over other traditional European brands in terms of the historical background and the solid technique foundation. After over three decades, however, it has become one of the most successful jewelry brands with the largest fan amount in the world. As regards its way to success, it was obviously not a sort of coincidence (Pandora, 1982).
Since its low-key foundation in Copenhagen by Danish goldsmith Per Enevoldsen and his wife Winnie, the jewelry brand possesses a history of nearly 40 years. As a relatively young jewelry brand born in a non-traditional luxury country, Pandora once has surprisingly created the world’s third largest market value, next only to TIFFANY and Chow Tai Fook. In 2016, its market value reached ¥106 billion, which is considered its peak. In 2020, Pandora’s offline channel revenue dropped by 30% because of the massive closure of physical stores due to the epidemic around the world. Even in this case, Pandora has maintained a relatively good momentum with its own soft power and the blessing of online business. Combined with the implementation of the “Progamme Now” program, its shares rose surprisingly 135% year-over-year (Zhongbaoxie, 2021a).
This has inevitably something to do with its precise product positioning and its accurate grasp of consumers’ psychology. As a jewelry brand born in northern Europe, Pandora still adheres to the customary design style of Nordic products in general: simplicity, light, practicality, and utilizing mainly the cool tone. It is considered to be a model of contemporary entry lux jewelry, with the price of each product ranging approximately within ¥500 - 2500, which is a relatively affordable price for an internationally renowned jewelry brand. In terms of cost control, Pandora has achieved effective cost savings in production, IT, management and store operations. In 2019-2020, they saved DKK 1.2 billion and 1.6 billion respectively, and all saving processes are now integrated into their daily operations. In addition, Pandora has made sustainable development-related matters the focus of brand development and promotion all year round. For example, in 2020, 60% of the gold and silver in its products come from recycled materials, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20,000 tons throughout the year (Zhongbaoxie, 2021a).
As regards its inheritance of Nordic traditional style, there’s a high probability that it would have been “closed behind the door” in and around Scandinavia, if only dependents upon these styles. Thus, if so, it’s obviously difficult to materialize the brand’s ambition to adapt it to the global market. It can be observed by many consumers that, since its establishment, Pandora’s design concept has no longer simply inherited the minimalist style of northern Europe, but has integrated many intercultural elements and adopted some world-wide imagery. It has seemingly been trying to find a balance between the styles of northern Europe and other areas in the world, in order to gain the favor of consumers in more countries.
If a brand wants to achieve marvelous prestige in the world, it’s crucial to take into account both nationality and internationality. If only adhering to the local traditional design style, some consumers who do not have the experience of growing up or living in their country will not be able to be resonated so that they won’t have a strong intention of purchase; if the designers just blindly conform to the international trend and forget the characteristics of their own country, they will create a commonplace brand without market superiority, which is difficult to occupy a place in current world where jewelry brands are springing up like mushrooms.
The reason why Pandora has achieved today’s brilliant reputation is inseparable from its design concept of “appropriate combination of simplicity and complexity”, which means integrating the simplicity of the Nordic area and the complexity of the world’s culture. Running through almost every series of Pandora, this concept retains the Nordic minimalist style, while exploring more possibilities in line with the world. This is especially classic in the bracelets of MOMENTS series launched in 2000. The design concept perfectly reflects the collision and fusion between nationality and internationality of jewelry, and hence becomes an indispensable promotion in Pandora’s journey to the global market.
In this paper, I will briefly talk about the principle of “simplicity” and “complexity” of Pandora jewelry, and explore its enlightenment to the design of entry lux jewelry.
2. The Simplicity of Pandora
2.1. Where Is the “Simplicity”?
Born in the Nordic region and deeply influenced by the social life and customs of the surrounding areas in Scandinavia, Pandora jewelry inherits the traditional Nordic style in the design of the rough outline—natural, light, high functionality and harmonious color, which is composed mainly by cool tone colors. These characteristics bestowed Pandora a general impression left by the Nordic design style to the world—“simplicity”.
Wang Yuzhen once mentioned in “Green China” that simplicity is a Nordic tradition. For them, saving time, conserving resources and restraining consumption is an essential part of life. Jewelry is the most luxurious part of life (Wang, 2007). Nevertheless, Pandora still responded to the attitude above, showing a relatively economical design concept.
The word “simplicity” is firstly embodied in the simple color matching. Throughout the jewelry series launched by Pandora, people can find that its color positioning adheres basically to the same color tone for the same piece of work, no more than two main colors for the same piece of jewelry, no high-saturation color matching, scarcely any collisions between cool and warm colors. Overall, the principle of color matching based mostly on cool colors. For example, among the jewelry collocations in the MOMENTS series, the colors that Pandora gives to each piece are generally not too strong in contrast, not too high in saturation, and are dominated by cool colors such as blue and cyan, sometimes with the supplements in warm ones (https://cn.pandora.net/zh). Nordic designers prefer low-chroma color schemes such as black and white and log colors, giving people a fresh, lively, bright and timeless character. However, using a single color for design will lead to a depressing and boring appearance, so Pandora incorporates blue or lavender on the basis of the primary metal color, which greatly improves the beauty and interest of the jewelry, making it simple but not homely.
The word “simplicity” is secondly embodied in the non-overelaborate structure. Just as the profiles of Nordic architectures are mostly clear and straight, with few gorgeous reliefs and exaggerated decorations, and the Nordic furniture designers pays attention to naturalness and practicality instead of elaborate details and craftsmanship, Pandora’s jewelry is similar to Nordic architecture and furniture in terms of its outline. As regards the style of furniture, there’s not too much complex spatial structure. Similarly, the bracelet is simply composed by single beads, and the pendant is rarely exaggerated, twisted, irregular or abnormal (Figure 1). This simple design style may better fit the consumer’s psychology. Because of the non-overelaborate structure, it reduces the probability of damage during wearing and provide more possibilities for matching. As a result, a simple matching scheme may possess thousands of different meanings, making it non-clumsy.
Third, the word “simplicity” means the concision of the decorative elements. Stars, moons, hearts, flowers and various simple geometric figures occupy most of Pandora’s designs. As regards the shape of a single bead, Pandora seldom adds complex embellishments. The overall shapes of most accessories, no matter what style they are made into, tend to be square, circle or other simple figures. Scandinavian design style rarely suggests the enthusiasm of southern Europe and the romance of western Europe. Generally, it follows the principle of avoiding exaggeration and following the rules. Pandora’s simple and unpretentious style makes the whole piece of jewelry reveal the low-key and tranquility of the Nordics. However, this tranquility does not mean indifference. The ingenious design styles such as allowing customers to letter and free match have also brought considerable ingenuity to Pandora’s works. Instead of being impersonal, the style is
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Figure 1. Pandora bracelet and its beads, as picture 1 (source: Baidu Pictures).
simple but not lacking.
Last but not least, the word “simplicity” also indicates the economization of materials. A large proportion of Pandora jewelry uses sterling silver and 14 K gold supplemented with pearls and zircon, and occasionally embellished with artificial diamonds. It’s rare to pile up a variety of precious gems and jades (Yu, 2021). This kind of simple material style is more in line with Pandora’s overall “light” style, which saves the cost to the largest extent. The positioning of “light” makes the work more economical and affordable in the commercial market. In addition, according to Overseas Investment Carnival Series Summit, the smartest choice about Pandora’s cost control is that it decided to build a factory in Thailand. This is not only due to Thailand’s rich silver resources and long history of jewelry, but also an important reason: ultra-low labor costs, which plays a crucial role in jewelry economization (360doc, 2016).
Jewelry possesses a history of more than 10,000 years. Current people not only pay attention to its decorative effect, but also attach more importance to its economic and practical value. The proportion of the latter should be maximized. Compared with pure gold jewelry full of precious colorful treasures, sterling silver jewelry with ordinary gemstones is obviously suitable for daily wear rather than enshrinement. Moreover, as the target market of jewelry expands from affluent people to general public, the cost of design has become relatively low. Low-cost jewelry that fits the mass budget is hence increasingly important. Pandora has grasped these middle-class consumers’ psychology, using relatively inexpensive materials to create low-cost, high-wearable works. Therefore, simple materials can maximize social and economic benefits, making the jewelry unsophisticated.
2.2. The Causes and Value Analysis of the “Simplicity”
Most of the five Nordic countries are located in Scandinavia and its surrounding areas in high latitudes. The terrain suggests a complex property, mainly plains surrounding by forests and mountains (Lei, Guo, & Suo, 2021). Geographical location and climatic conditions lead northern Europe to a special state of, to some extent, being out of touch with other countries throughout Europe, resulting in its residents being relatively independent in terms of lifestyle and even ideological and cultural aspects. The ancestors of the Nordics are now widely considered to be Vikings. Many see them as pirates and invaders, which is not necessarily the case. The Vikings were just a group of adventurous nomads living in the north. Their characteristics prevented them from settling in a certain place and leading a halcyon life (Yu, 2021). This wandering state of life often pushes them into danger and turmoil. To some degree, subsisting in a dangerous environment for long periods makes them attach more importance to the practicality of daily necessities and partially ignore their decorative value. Clothes are used to keep out the cold and resist attacks rather than embellishing their figure, accessories (helmets and belts, etc.) are more for hanging weapons or launching attacks.
After centuries of war, Vikings tended to fuse with other European people, thus they gradually entered civilized society. At the end of the 19th century, the Arts and Crafts Movement and the Nouveau Art movement were vigorously carried out in Europe, which deeply influenced the Nordic design style (Lei, 2002). While retaining certain simple design concepts of the Viking tradition, it absorbed the advanced ideas of these artistic ideological movements (Ao & Chen, 2013). Ever since, the design has become more practical and humanized, more consistent with the aim of “things are used by people” (Yu, 2021).
According to the current commercial jewelry market, “simplicity” has become an evergreen tree that will never fall behind fashion, in order to match a variety of styles of clothes as well as reduce the cost of purchase. Minimalist jewelry seemingly has a larger consumer volume than complex and gorgeous jewelry, which leads to greater market width and extensive market potential. However, the economic benefits of minimalist jewelry have led to a bunch of brands, big or small, to get a piece of the pie, while the quality remains mixed. The majority of e-commerce shops, being whether domestic or overseas, are saturated by these so-called “Nordic minimalist jewelry” with less superior innovation than the average niveau of commercial jewelry. In addition, compared to complex jewelry pieces, minimalist ones have long been saturated in innovation. Imitation or even plagiarism between different brands occur from time to time. Due to the simplicity and prevalence of the style, it is often difficult for the infringed designers to protect their rights, which makes minimalist jewelry manufacturers often experience market chaos and ownership disputes. This indicates that the blind pursuit of minimalism cannot produce strong vitality in the field of jewelry design.
3. The “Complexity” of Pandora
3.1. Where Is the “Complexity”?
Pandora, with a history of nearly 40 years, has rapidly developed since its establishment. Many consumers have noticed that, although the jewelry series is still simple and natural in general, it no longer mechanically adheres to this simple design style in many details. Instead, it integrates excellent craftsmanship, imagery and design concepts from all over the world, aiming to resonate the international standards in form and aesthetics. Compared with other Nordic jewelry brands which are basically confined to the combination of straight lines, curves, dots and letters, Pandora concentrates more on the principle of “simple outline with interesting details”, so that consumers can also see its characteristic of “complexity”.
In an article titled “How Much Do You Know about Pandora”, the author pointed out that many people only saw Pandora’s simple shape and ignored its exquisite design craftsmanship. In fact, its meticulous attention to design and the excellence of its craftsmanship are also worthy of the love of consumers, which has also helped the brand become one of the best-selling brands in recent years.
The word “complexity” is firstly reflected in Pandora’s meticulous crafting of each bead. For example, when consumers look at the bracelets launched by Pandora from a distance, they only see the simple splicing of beads, but if they clap eyes on each bead, they can find that they are all exquisitely crafted and ingeniously designed. In the case of changing the general silhouette of the bead, it sometimes echoes certain styles of traditional European big-name brands such as CHAUMET, CARTIER and BVLGARI, as well as the use of hollowing, group setting, lettering and other common techniques in the jewelry industry which may sophisticate the original simple structure of the work. Jewelry with original color matching becomes more shiny and more attractive with the aid of zircon embellishment, meanwhile the material-saving pieces can also show a comprehensive effect that seems not sleazy in general. However, instead of blindly stacking zircon and hollowing, Pandora balances appropriately between embellishment and relaxation, leaving room for jewelry and wearers to “breathe”, which shows the characteristic of being complex but not constricted. As shown in the Pandora classic bracelet style, the whole bracelet is composed of a small number of 7 beads, but each bead has been carefully carved, which is neither thin nor cumbersome as a whole, and has a degree of relaxation.
The word “complexity” is also reflected in Pandora’s absorption of excellent traditional cultures from all over the world in the selection of design images. As mentioned above, if a brand wants to go out of the Nordic countries towards the world, and have a place in the global market, it is obviously far from enough to limit the selection of styles within Scandinavia. Therefore, Pandora put its eyes around the world, seeking for all the available high-quality elements. The image of the “dream catcher” that appears in many jewelry series of Pandora, for example, is a masterpiece of Indian culture in the 18th century (Figure 2). The
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Figure 2. Pandora dream catcher beads, as picture 3 (source: Baidu Pictures).
dream catcher has a meaningful implication, which may help people eliminate nightmares and obtain happiness. This implication bestows it a great market potential worldwide, so it was cleverly used by Pandora in its jewelry design. Then, Pandora’s “Magnolia” series of jewelry appears to reflect the absorption and integration of oriental culture (Figure 3). In this series, Pandora has changed the past style which is mainly based on cold colors. Instead, the combination of light pink and white has been elegantly created. The shape of the flower in the jewelry seems similar to the Chinese magnolia, and also has many similarities with the Japanese SAKURA. Pandora once introduced on its website: “There are flowers first, and then leaves. This is magnolia: the fragrant and huge flowers standing proudly during the blooming season”. Pandora probably wanted to use this to portray the tenacity of oriental women. The products are also pursued by the vast majority of women in the world today, so the “Magnolia” series has become very popular once it was launched. Pandora has mirrored the positive traits in the target cultures and then matched them properly. Therefore, their products are complex but non-disordered (https://cn.pandora.net/zh).
Thirdly, the word “complexity” is reflected in the fact that Pandora caters to the common aesthetic of most countries in the world. If a piece of jewelry only meets the aesthetics of local people, its audience may be limited to the domestic market, and it may confront high possibility to fail. For example, most of the audience of pure Han nationality style jewelry is still limited to local Chinese and some foreign lovers of Han culture, while the audience market of jewelry with ethnic minority styles is basically confined to the gathering regions of the ethnic groups. If Pandora wants to go further towards the world, it’s crucial to break out of the shackles of Scandinavia and seek for the elements that would be accepted by consumers all over the world. In addition to the “dream catcher” that
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Figure 3. Pandora magnolia bracelet, as picture 2 (source: Baidu Pictures).
symbolizes the elimination of nightmares and the magnolia flower that symbolizes tenacity and beauty, Pandora also selects more well-known elements: the heart symbolizing love, the stars symbolizing the universe, the children’s favorite Mickey Mouse and letters symbolizing various special meanings. Pandora’s MOMENTS series also supports consumers to freely formulate design solutions according to their own preferences, which greatly improves the flexibility of design and thus expands the breadth of target market (https://cn.pandora.net/zh). This ingenious idea of extracting the wishes and preferences of consumers in various countries while summarizing their common aesthetic orientation makes it complex and refined (Figure 4).
Finally, the “complexity” is reflected in Pandora’s spirit of absorbing the excellent craftsmanship of various countries and learning from others’ strengths in production. For example, the manufacture of some beads draws on the production process of retro hollowing from Bohemia, and the petals of the famous “Magnolia Series” seem to utilize enamel technology from China. Pandora applies the technologies from other countries to its own products: not just imitating, but always closely integrating with its own product positioning. Once the hollowing effect is used too much, it will go against its own “light” style. Once the enamel process chooses high-saturation colors or uses it too frequently, it will become a complete “Chinese jewelry”, losing the internationality it has been pursuing. In addition, according to “How Much Do You Know about Pandora”, the production of a Pandora bead starts with a mold, then a plaster cast, and finally a series of complex processes such as shearing, edge grinding, welding, oxidation, antique, inlay, and polishing. It takes an average of 30 craftsmen to complete a piece of Pandora’s jewelry from raw materials to the final product. Pandora’s meticulous workmanship is evident (Sohu.com, 2019).
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Figure 4. Pandora Moments Small O Pendant, as picture 4 (source: uk.pandora.net).
While Pandora refers other countries’ craftsmanship, it has not applied it on a large scale. Instead, it combines with the minimalist style of northern Europe, and integrates various craftsmanship into a piece of jewelry, which still seems to be simple in general. Naturally, it is complex but not chaotic.
3.2. The Causes and Value Analysis of the “Complexity”
After the second industrial revolution, the global market has finally formed. People have entered the era of large enterprises, which means enterprises have become increasingly internationalized while bunches of multinational companies have appeared. In this context, if you only want to “build a car behind closed doors”, you may inevitably be beaten by competitors in the same industry who have the courage to go abroad. The advent of the information age has brought solid links between countries in the world. The frequency and depth of cultural exchanges have increased again and again, which is conducive to the widespread dissemination of cultures from various countries around the world. In such an era, many European jewelry brands have improved their design schemes, integrated the high-quality cultures all over the world, and seek to follow the trend of economic and trade globalization. Pandora captures the major favorable factor of the global market, and skillfully integrates the essence of design and craftsmanship from various countries to create a series of jewelry being adored by consumers around the world.
The “complexity” breaks through the limitations of the minimalist style of traditional Nordic design. If the design suggests excessive simplicity, the jewelry will be too thin, lacking a sense of heaviness and recognition. Compared with the slenderness and weakness of simple jewelry, appropriate addition of “complexity” will greatly increase the interest and beauty of jewelry, and make low-cost pieces look more “high-end and beautiful”. It integrates the various cultures and craftsmanship of more countries while opens a certain degree of popularity in target markets according to different meanings. Furthermore, the more complicated details can satisfy the psychology of some detail lovers, allowing them to appreciate Pandora’s superb strength in details. Nonetheless, if the traditional elements are not properly used, it will lead to the opposite effect. For instance, if you just want to imitate other big-name jewelry, adding embellishments to the jewelry through the stacking of materials and craftsmanship to make it less monotonous, you may confront failure. Once the scale is not well grasped, the overall product will appear too cumbersome; if you integrate totally the characteristics of other countries and give up your own advantages, it will show a nondescript mixed effect and lose the competitiveness of your own nation in the work; if all kinds of images are indiscriminately mixed into the same product, it will reduce the meaning of the product. Meanwhile, the overall effect will be disorganized, leaving consumers confused.
From this point of view, blindly pursuing “complexity” cannot go further in the competition of commercial jewelry.
4. The Relationship between “Simplicity” and “Complexity” and the Significance of Their Combination
The reason why Pandora has achieved today’s achievements is closely related to the designers’ skillful combination of “simplicity” and “complexity”. The former is from traditional Nordic style, engraving in the soul of the Nordic nation; the latter derives from all over the world, which is the result of comprehensive consideration from the perspective of jewelry consumers in various countries since the formation of global market. The combination of “simplicity” and “complexity” is the achievement of the manufacturers who take into account the nationality and internationality of jewelry. “Simplicity” means simple in shape rather than in spirit, ingenuity and soul; “complexity” means complex in which all swords are unified, scilicet complex but not chaotic. The two are integrated and complement each other, they are indispensable in every piece of Pandora jewelry. If it just imitates the minimalist style of other Nordic jewelry brands, it may only blaze the market of Nordic and a small number of minimalist lovers; if it blindly caters to international tastes and mix numerous elements from other countries, it will become a mediocre brand and lose its core competitiveness in the national market. From this point of view, the organic combination of simplicity and complexity is very important in Pandora’s product planning (Qian, 2021).
The combination of simplicity and complexity may increase the visual comfort of jewelry and make it more sophisticated and high-end in general. In traditional Chinese painting techniques, the ancestors paid attention to “leave a margin”, which means the composition should avoid being too empty or too full, there should be lines, colors and blanks, leaving a piece of blank for the picture to “breathe” as well as leading the way to the appreciators’ reverie. The same applies to jewelry products. The effect of excessive simplicity may bring people a sense of dullness and monotony, while the effect of excessive complexity may result in a cumbersome and messy appearance, and may even bring about a sense of oppression. By combining “simplicity” and “complexity”, the whole piece of jewelry is neither empty nor messy, thus the effect of the product presents a sense of relaxation.
This kind of combination can take into account the effects of lightness and luxury, which is in line with the positioning of Pandora jewelry as “entry lux”. The notion “entry lux”, which means “light luxury” in Chinese, signifies simplicity in materials and craftsmanship, relatively low in cost, but not low-end in general appearance. The simplicity of color matching, materials and shapes composes the “light” part, while complex element collocation, image fusion and detail carving make up the “luxury” part. Pandora has found a balance between the two. In terms of the reasonable collocation and appropriate combination, none of them are utilized beyond necessary definition. This not only saves costs, but also provides consumers with a brilliant wearing effect that isn’t lower than that of high-priced jewelry.
The combination of “simplicity” and “complexity” has also thought about the nationality and internationality of the brand, taking into account both domestic and overseas markets, and finally promotes Pandora’s success in the world. In current global market, if a brand wants to achieve its prestige in this field, it must deal with both of the two markets above, and then seek to exploit both national and international styles. Pandora has obviously realized this. In its products, there are optimization and symbolic design of exotic elements, so that it matches the minimalist Nordic style naturally but not rigidly, then local elements and exotic elements are matched to the point.
5. Status Quo and Existing Problems of Entry Lux Jewelry
At the recently-concluded 2021 Jewelry Industry Capital Forum at Beijing, the “2021 China Jewelry Company Research Report” pointed out that, with the reformation of domestic capital market in recent years, the capitalization development of jewelry industry may meet new opportunities. With the development of e-commerce channels, the progress of online media and the live broadcast industry, many consumers (especially those who prefer mid-to-low-end jewelry and do not need to reach the firsthand for inspection) have gradually shifted their attention from physical stores to e-commerce channels. Some small jewelry enterprises whose offline business is limited by time and space may seize the opportunity to grow rapidly. The relative reduction of the industrial threshold has offered many cutting-edge enterprises an opportunity to enter the market agog to increase their economic benefits. The same period report “2021 Luxury Brand Strategy Research Report” (Zhongbaoxie Association Fund, 2021) pointed out that people with the highest enthusiasm for jewelry consumption are concentrated in those born between 1982 and 2009, while their needs are more diverse and personalized than people who are not in this age group. Innovation has become a factor that every jewelry brand has to consider.
According to Bain & Company, with the gradual stabilization of the epidemic COVID-19, the luxury industry has reached an inflection point earlier than expected. It is commonly predicted that the jewelry industry has also experienced the most difficult period, and may usher in a new growth point next year (Zhongbaoxie, 2021b). The recovery of the jewelry industry will further push brands to launch new collections and try to get a piece of the pie in the post-pandemic economy. The major luxury jewelry brands with the same positioning as Pandora focus on the young market with high consuming power, and are trying to improve the speed of product upgrading to avoid being overtaken by their rivals (Zhongbaoxie, 2021b).
As the main force of current commercial jewelry, entry lux jewelry is more prone to market disorder than other kind of jewelry. The simpler the design is, the less the recognition may be. For example, numerous manufacturers produce letter pendants, plain rings and four-leaf clover necklaces. In fact, these pieces have few concepts of design, they just replicate the application of a certain single element. In mid-July 2020, Lee, an independent designer who runs her online store, sued an illustrious domestic jewelry brand for copying its “Möbius Ring”, which leaded the way to a frenzied discussion on the Internet. Some people thought that the design of the big brand was exactly the same as Li in shape and material, which could be defined as plagiarism, while other people held the point that the Mobius ring was an element that is “excessively prevalent” in jewelry industry, thus the plagiarism allegation was unreasonable. From this case, it can be seen that there may be certain probability of stylish collision in entry lux jewelry. Whether it signifies plagiarism, the definition the boundary is, to some degree, not clear enough, which sometimes makes it difficult for designers and manufacturers to protect their rights.
Some brands realize that the probability of stylish collision of luxury jewelry is increasing when the innovation is relatively limited. In order to ensure the uniqueness of their works and the credibility of their designers, they partially give up the positioning of entry lux and choose more complicated styles. To get some conspicuous work, diamond-studded form and other styles are frequently utilized. However, in order to attract the customers for long, it’s vital to keep the final price affordable. Therefore, some brands have begun to fiddle with workmanship, materials and details, replacing the original zircon with glass or resin. As regards the process of making and pouring the mold, it has been simplified again and again, sometimes even the detailed patterns remains difficult to distinguish. It won’t be long before the drilling and the electroplating layer fall off. The works presented in this way are flashy and full of cheapness. In the long run, it will obviously do more harm than good to the reputation of the brand. It can thus be seen that if you blindly increase the complexity of products in pursuit of innovation, once you rush beyond the proper degree, it will usher in a self-defeating ending.
In the era of the rapid development of market economy, commercial jewelry manufacturers show an obvious profit-seeking propensity, which means they may prefer creating higher economic benefits rather than sticking to art and aesthetic, thus they may partially ignore the beauty and creativity of their products. In order to update them faster, there’s high possibility for them to re-launch the old products of its own brand, replicate the elements used by the predecessors, or simply pull the irrelevant elements together. It has assuredly become more high-end, but after going back and forth, consumers would have suffered from aesthetic fatigue. In the long run, it is not conducive to the healthy development of the brand. There are also some manufacturers who have seized the vanity of consumers. They aim to create the so-called “face” for consumers and the so-called “high quality” of the brand, regardless of the real cost, arbitrarily raise the price, so that consumers buy low cost-effective products at high prices. Finally, it would be the brand that gets high profits.
In addition, the current entry lux jewelry brands still have certain problems such as vicious competition and excessive pursuit of economic benefits. To achieve their sustainable development, it is urgent for each brand to reform its system, mechanism and marketing plan. Designers also need to think it over and adjust for existing problems.
6. Pandora’s Enlightenments to Entry Lux Jewelry Design
The success of Pandora is, to some extent, inevitable, organically combining “lightness” with “luxury”, combining the simple style of the Nordic with the prosperous world culture, “lightness” brings economic benefits and wearing comfort, while “luxury” creates a larger space for innovation and aesthetics.
Therefore, if you want to create a marketable jewelry, you may take into account these two characteristics and find a balance between price, beauty and creativity.
Today, when the global market is already formed, if a brand wants to succeed in the world, it’s important not only to focus on the domestic market, but also to closely follow the international step, grasp the latest fashion trends in the international market, and properly absorb the excellent styles from other countries. Craftsmanship and design elements, which make their products into high-quality ones, can conform to the world’s mainstream aesthetic orientation and acquire market potential worldwide. When absorbing the excellent design elements of other countries, however, the characteristics of the country cannot be ignored. It’s necessary to appropriately treat the balance between nationality and internationality, between the domestic and the international market, and between the domestic characteristics and foreign excellent cultures. If you only focus on nationality and ignore internationality, it will result in a situation of “making a car behind the closing door”. If you only focus on internationality and ignoring nationality, it will become a mediocre work that loses its soul.
In the current fierce competition in commercial jewelry, innovation has become an essential factor to stand out among many industry competitors. Nowadays, entry lux jewelry has been widely distributed in our lives, consumers have correspondingly higher requirements for the innovation of the styles (Qian, 2021).
Pandora possesses a unique advantage in terms of innovation. Its representative work is the MOMENTS series launched in 2000. In this series, Pandora gives consumers the hands of creation, and it only plays the role of a medium (https://cn.pandora.net/zh). Pandora supports consumers to make their own DIY works according to the important moments or dream in their life. Pandora is responsible for designing each accessory, which can be freely matched by consumers (Qian, 2021).
Just as “there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people”, each consumer has obtained a different style under the guidance of Pandora. And, more importantly, each style has the “memorial value” for them. This can be a design concept that is rarely used in other brands, making Pandora’s jewelry more bursting with strong vitality. If other jewelry brands have no room for improvement in innovation, they can learn from Pandora’s design concept of “returning the hands of creation to consumers”, so that consumers can decide on their own styles. This is also an opportunity to give meaning to jewelry. The products produced in this way will be relatively “special” to consumers, and their value, in the eyes of consumers, will also increase.
Aurora Island provides a typical example in this regard. This is a young luxury jewelry brand co-founded by teachers from Tsinghua University and several cutting-edge designers. Seemingly inspired by Scandinavian minimalist design style, the brand has launched a line of jewelry with clean lines and affordable prices (Figure 5). In order to allow its products to have a broader market, Aurora Island has recently launched private customization and personalized design services. This is arguably a huge change, as a well-known singer made a pair of earrings here shortly after the service started (Aurora Island, 2022). With the fame of Tsinghua teachers and the singer, Aurora Island is gradually becoming a mature luxury brand.
Many customers expressed their sincere admiration after experiencing the customized service of Aurora Island. They generally agree that the brand involves them in every step of the design, from sketching to making wax stencils to setting gems. As long as the brand has the opportunity, it will definitely show the current production progress to customers in person. Their sincerity in trying to realize every client’s idea is admirable. This respect for everyone’s creativity has allowed Aurora Island to gradually gain a place among new jewelry brands.
In the era when the market economy is rapidly growing while consumers’ rights and interests are elevated to an important position, the concept of “customer is God” runs through the development of all the fields. When purchasing jewelry, consumers will place cost-effectiveness on an important location, being
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Figure 5. Aurora Island’s most popular jewelry product: “Maze”, as picture 5 (source: http://www.jigdao.com/productinfo/609087.html).
at home or abroad. Commercial jewelry brands should stand from the customer’s point of view, consider their interests, and meet the “high-end performance” in their eyes. Therefore, it’s possible to achieve healthy and high-quality development of its own brand. If it only pursuits economic interests, part of the product would be abandoned. Low-quality, rough and expensive jewelry may be profitable in the short term, but such petty gains will soon be offset by the loss of brand reputation in the long run. Although Pandora’s production process is not complicated and the price is relatively low, it still uses the most delicate workmanship and the most cordial attitude to give back to consumers. This is the “craftsman spirit” that the Chinese people have been preaching. It is also the spirit that a brand wanting to gain a foothold in the world should have. As the so-called “outsiders don’t know the profound mystery but can get your sincerity”, consumers can feel the brand’s intention through its outstanding products, and will naturally have a good impression of the brand. A high-reputation brand is easier to achieve long-term development. This can also bring a lot of reference to the spiritual level of other jewelry brands.
7. Conclusion
This paper uses research methods such as consulting predecessors’ data, logging on to the websites and analyzing the relevant products in order to conduct a preliminary study on the issue of “Pandora’s simplicity and complexity and its enlightenment to entry lux jewelry design”. Some suggestions are also given to luxury brand researchers, which have certain reference value for today’s entry lux jewelry industry.
Entry lux jewelry has been in a state of rising and even close to saturation in the market in the last ten years. These exposed innovation problems, market order problems and even legal disputes have become increasingly diversified and complicated. Pandora has grown from a young Nordic jewelry brand to a big one that can compete with or even overshadow many old ones. It’s precisely because of its proper product planning and business philosophy that perfectly fits the trend of the market. At the same time as the national characteristics of northern Europe are preserved, it integrates high-quality aesthetic elements from all over the world catering to the preferences of global consumers. A brand needs to consider these elements comprehensively and combine them in a relaxed manner, so that they may go abroad and truly achieve worldwide success.
As a study on commercial jewelry brand, this paper makes up for several problems in previous literatures. However, in the process, I also encountered many problems, such as the inability to conduct field visits due to time and space constraints, and the inability to conduct more in-depth investigations among people of all ages due to the limited number of friends. The imperfect conditions need to be improved in future study.
Overall, the results obtained in this study are more than rich, but the precision is still not enough. I hope that there will be opportunities to further explore this issue in the future.