What Is Handmade?

What is handmade? It's not as straightforward as it sounds. For jewelry, the Federal Trade Commission has a specific breakdown (included below) of what it means to be hand-made. Make the most of your museum store’s product descriptions by accurately describing your jewelry while highlighting just what makes it unique. This fosters a better understanding of your jewelry vendor’s work and trust between your store and its customers 💍✨

§ 23.3 Misuse of the terms "hand-made," "hand-polished," etc.
(a) It is unfair or deceptive to represent, directly or by implication, that any industry product is hand-made or hand-wrought unless the entire shaping and forming of such product from raw materials and its finishing and decoration were accomplished by hand labor and manually-controlled methods which permit the maker to control and vary the construction, shape, design, and finish of each part of each individual product.
Note to paragraph (a): As used herein, "raw materials" include bulk sheet, strip, wire, and similar items that have not been cut, shaped, or formed into jewelry parts, semi-finished parts, or blanks.

(b) It is unfair or deceptive to represent, directly or by implication, that any industry product is hand-forged, hand-engraved, hand-finished, or hand-polished, or has been otherwise hand-processed, unless the operation described was accomplished by hand labor and manually-controlled methods which permit the maker to control and vary the type, amount, and effect of such operation on each part of each individual product.