20 Things We Love About Nunn Design: A Celebration of Handcrafted Jewelry Making

The Art and Philosophy Behind Nunn Design

Nunn Design has carved out a remarkable niche in the world of handcrafted jewelry and mixed media art. Founded with a deep passion for enabling creative expression, the brand has grown into a beloved resource for jewelry makers, crafters, and artists who want to bring their most ambitious visions to life. What sets Nunn Design apart is not merely the quality of their products, but the philosophy woven into every finding, blank, and component they offer. They believe that the tools a maker uses should inspire the work itself, not simply serve as passive hardware in the creative process.

At the heart of everything Nunn Design produces lies a commitment to accessibility and artistry in equal measure. Whether you are a seasoned jeweler with decades of bench experience or a curious beginner just discovering the joy of working with metal and resin, Nunn Design’s product lines are designed to meet you where you are. Their open-back bezels, decorative frames, and channel blanks come in a wide range of sizes and styles, ensuring that even the most specific creative vision has a corresponding component waiting to bring it to life. This thoughtful range is part of why so many crafters develop fierce loyalty to the brand.

The brand also distinguishes itself through education and community engagement. Nunn Design regularly shares tutorials, project ideas, and technique guides that help customers get the most out of every product in their catalog. This investment in maker education reflects a genuine understanding that selling great components is only half the equation — empowering people to use them confidently is what truly builds a creative community. It is this spirit of generosity and shared enthusiasm that makes following Nunn Design such a rewarding experience for anyone in the jewelry making world.

Exceptional Findings and Components That Inspire

One of the most frequently celebrated aspects of Nunn Design is the sheer quality and variety of their findings. From elegant toggle clasps to intricately detailed ear wire designs, every component reflects careful attention to proportion, finish, and function. Jewelry makers who have worked with lesser findings know the frustration of clasps that fail, ear wires that irritate, or jump rings that refuse to close cleanly. Nunn Design products consistently avoid these pitfalls, which is why so many professionals reach for them when they want results they can stake their reputation on.

Among their most beloved offerings are the open-back bezels and frames that have become something of a signature for the brand. These components come in an extraordinary array of shapes — geometric forms, organic ovals, delicate botanicals, and architectural rectangles — making them suitable for everything from minimalist modern jewelry to elaborate Victorian-inspired mixed media pieces. The open back design is particularly valued because it allows light to pass through resin or fabric inclusions, creating depth and luminosity that closed components simply cannot achieve. Many crafters describe the moment they first held a Nunn Design bezel as transformative.

Nunn Design also offers a comprehensive range of channel blanks and pendant bases that have become workhorses in the studios of professional jewelry makers worldwide. These components accept resin, paper, fabric, and other mixed media materials with remarkable elegance, turning what might otherwise be a technical challenge into a genuinely enjoyable design exercise. The plating options available — including antique copper, antique silver, antique gold, and bright gold — ensure that makers can match their components to the aesthetic direction of any collection they are building.

[STUDIO_IMAGE: a flat lay of elegant silver jewelry findings and bezels on white marble, soft natural lighting]

The Magic of Resin Work With Nunn Design Products

Resin jewelry has experienced an enormous surge in popularity over the past decade, and Nunn Design has been at the forefront of making that medium accessible and exciting for makers at every skill level. Their bezels are specifically engineered to hold resin beautifully, with walls tall enough to contain liquid resin during the curing process and a lip design that creates a polished finished edge without additional finishing work. For anyone who has struggled with resin overflowing or curing in uneven layers, working with Nunn Design components can feel like a revelation.

The creative possibilities when combining Nunn Design findings with resin are genuinely staggering. Makers pour everything into these bezels — dried botanicals, glitter, mica powders, tiny photographs, watch parts, fabric scraps, gold leaf, and countless other inclusions — and the results range from delicate and ethereal to bold and maximalist. The transparency of cured resin means that even complex layered inclusions remain visible and vibrant, telling a visual story within the tiny frame of a pendant or earring component. Nunn Design has become the go-to source for the bezels that hold these stories in place.

For those new to resin work, Nunn Design’s educational resources are an invaluable starting point. Their blog and video tutorials walk through everything from selecting the right resin formulation to troubleshooting common issues like bubbles, cloudiness, or uneven curing. They also address the specific considerations that come with using resin in their particular components, making the learning curve significantly gentler than it might otherwise be. This combination of great products and great education is a large part of why resin workers in particular tend to become such devoted Nunn Design enthusiasts.

Mixed Media Art and Jewelry Making Techniques

Beyond resin, Nunn Design components have proven themselves wonderfully suited to a broad spectrum of mixed media techniques. Collage artists working in jewelry have embraced the brand’s frames and bezels as ideal homes for miniature paper art, vintage ephemera, and hand-painted elements. The sturdy construction of Nunn Design findings means they can withstand the adhesives and sealants typically used in mixed media work without warping, discoloring, or compromising their plating finish. This durability is something that collage jewelry makers particularly appreciate, since their work often involves multiple layers of product application.

Wire wrapping enthusiasts have also found much to love in the Nunn Design catalog. Their pendant components and connector pieces offer focal points around which wire can be coiled, woven, and structured in endlessly varied ways. The aesthetic of wire wrapping pairs beautifully with the antique finishes that Nunn Design offers, creating a look that feels both ancient and contemporary at once. Many wire artists use Nunn Design components as the anchoring element in larger statement pieces, building elaborate wire structures that radiate outward from a central bezel or frame.

Fabric and fiber artists working in jewelry have discovered that Nunn Design’s channel components and open-back frames accept textile inclusions with surprising elegance. A small piece of hand-dyed silk, a scrap of vintage lace, or a snippet of embroidered ribbon can be transformed into a wearable work of art when set into the right Nunn Design finding. The brand even offers components specifically proportioned for fabric use, with channel depths designed to accommodate the thickness of woven materials. This versatility across craft disciplines is one of the most compelling arguments for keeping a well-stocked supply of Nunn Design components in any maker’s studio.

Here are some of the most popular mixed media techniques that work beautifully with Nunn Design products:

• Resin casting with botanical or paper inclusions set into open-back bezels
• Decoupage and collage work using vintage ephemera sealed within channel frames
• Wire wrapping around pendant bases and connector components
• Fabric and ribbon setting in appropriately proportioned channel blanks
• Alcohol ink art poured or painted directly into clean metal bezels
• Mica powder and gilding techniques applied over resin layers
• Photography transfer methods for capturing personal imagery in jewelry form

[STUDIO_IMAGE: a creative jewelry studio workbench with colorful resin, dried flowers, and metal bezels, warm afternoon light]

Building a Personal Style With Nunn Design Collections

One of the most rewarding aspects of working regularly with Nunn Design products is the way their collections lend themselves to the development of a personal signature style. Because the components are available in consistent finishes and proportional families, makers can build cohesive collections that feel deliberately curated rather than randomly assembled. A jeweler who falls in love with the antique copper finish, for instance, can find clasps, bezels, ear wires, head pins, and connectors all in that same finish, creating collections with a unified aesthetic sensibility that customers immediately recognize as belonging to that maker’s voice.

The seasonal and limited-edition releases that Nunn Design periodically introduces add another layer of excitement for dedicated followers of the brand. These special collections often explore new shapes, themes, or finish options that push makers to try techniques they might not have considered otherwise. Many jewelry makers describe eagerly anticipating each new Nunn Design release the way others might anticipate a favorite author’s next book — with genuine enthusiasm and the delicious sense that something wonderful and creatively challenging is about to arrive. This element of surprise and discovery keeps the maker’s relationship with the brand feeling fresh and alive over years of use.

For makers who sell their work at markets, in galleries, or through online shops, the consistency and quality of Nunn Design components also plays a practical business role. When customers return to purchase a second piece from a maker they love, finding that the clasps still function perfectly and the plating has held its character over time builds exactly the kind of trust that sustains a creative business long term. Nunn Design’s reputation for quality thus becomes part of the maker’s reputation for quality, a partnership that serves both parties genuinely well.

Community, Creativity, and the Nunn Design Legacy

Perhaps what is most extraordinary about Nunn Design is the community it has helped to build over the years. Jewelry makers who use the brand’s products tend to seek each other out, sharing projects, tips, and sources of inspiration in online groups, at craft shows, and through social media platforms. Pinterest boards dedicated to Nunn Design projects overflow with stunning examples of what makers have created using these components, and browsing through them can keep an inspired crafter occupied — and motivated — for hours. The visual language of Nunn Design jewelry has become recognizable across the handmade jewelry world.

Nunn Design has cultivated this community thoughtfully through their blog, their active social media presence, and their tradition of featuring maker projects prominently in their marketing and communications. When a small jewelry business sees their work celebrated by a brand they admire, the effect on their confidence and motivation can be profound. This reciprocal relationship between brand and maker is not merely good business strategy — it reflects a genuine belief that the creative community is worth investing in, nurturing, and celebrating at every opportunity.

The legacy of Nunn Design in the handmade jewelry world is already substantial, and it continues to grow with each new generation of makers who discovers the brand for the first time. For many, that discovery happens exactly as it happened for the creator of this Pinterest pin — through the simple act of scrolling past an image of something beautiful, something made with obvious care and excellent components, and feeling the immediate impulse to find out more. That impulse, followed to its source, leads to Nunn Design: a company that has made it their business to make beautiful things possible.

Here is a summary of what makes Nunn Design worth loving, in the words and experiences of the maker community:

1. Consistently high-quality plating that holds up beautifully over time and with regular wear
2. An extraordinary range of bezel shapes, sizes, and styles for every aesthetic direction
3. Finish options — antique silver, antique copper, antique gold, and bright gold — that suit diverse creative visions
4. Educational resources that genuinely help makers grow their skills and confidence
5. Community engagement that celebrates the work of makers at every level of experience
6. Seasonal and limited-edition releases that keep the product offering fresh and exciting
7. Components designed with the realities of mixed media work clearly in mind
8. A brand philosophy rooted in accessibility, artistry, and genuine love for the craft

[STUDIO_IMAGE: a finished handmade jewelry collection displayed on a rustic wooden surface, warm golden hour light]

In a marketplace crowded with options, Nunn Design has earned its place in the hearts and studios of serious makers through a combination of product excellence, community investment, and creative generosity. The twenty things to love about this brand could easily become forty, or a hundred — because the more you work with their components and engage with their resources, the more reasons for appreciation reveal themselves. For anyone who has not yet explored what Nunn Design has to offer, this is an enthusiastic invitation to begin that discovery.