The mental processes that prompt artists to paint masterpieces and inventors to produce life-changing innovations are the same ones that inspire the designers of original, beautiful and practical jewelry. It might be the glimpse of an ingenious machine or process the designer can translate into a wearable design or it may be the struggle to solve a problem customers have endured for years. Whatever the lightning bolt that blasts the idea into the enterprising designer’s mind, it is ideally the key to his or her professional recognition and commercial success. In reality, as most designers will tell you, a new jewelry design can begin years of headaches, fighting copycats and trying to prove ownership of an idea to a trend-obsessed market. “When somebody designs something new and original, other people are inevitably going to do a little take on it. It’s the nature of the fashion