EchoMade
You bring the story. AI turns it into a brief a jeweler can make.
Jewelry that means something is hard to describe.
EchoMade helps people turn a personal story into custom jewelry. AI turns the story into a clear brief, and an independent jeweler designs and makes the piece.
1 · Problem
People know what a piece should mean, not how to describe it. Jewelers get feelings instead of briefs: 4–6 hours per first consult and 3–5 rounds of revisions.
2 · Research
Surveys with 40+ customers and jewelers and 12 interviews showed that both sides want to create together, with AI helping rather than taking over.
3 · Solution
A phone app that turns a story into AI concepts and a brief, and a desktop workspace where the jeweler quotes, refines and makes it. Both follow one shared order.
Feelings in, revisions out.
A custom piece starts with a story, and the story gets lost on its way to the person who makes it. Both sides describe the same gap from opposite ends.
“I know what I want the jewelry to represent, but I don’t know how to explain it to a designer.”
“Clients bring me feelings, but I need clearer starting points to turn them into real designs.”
Four ways of listening.
I started with the market, then asked both sides directly: surveys, interviews, and a look at what people use today.
Market research · people buy jewelry for what it means
The global jewelry market has shown consistent growth after the 2020 downturn, reaching $348B in 2023 and projected to exceed $360B by 2027.
Global jewelry market
USD billions · 2018–2027, including projections to 2027Emotional connection is the most common reason people buy
Hover a slicePersonalization shapes behavior
Most companies now use AI-driven personalization; many consumers are willing to share data for tailored experiences.Survey · 20+ customers, 20+ jewelry professionals
Two sets of questions, one for each side of the co-creation.
For customers
For jewelers
wanted more control over customization than brands offer
abandoned a custom jewelry project due to complexity
pain point for jewelers: unclear requirements
User interviews · 6 buyers, 6 independent jewelers
I know exactly what I want in my head, but I can’t draw. Trying to explain a specific ‘vibe’ with just words is actually super frustrating.
The back-and-forth emails kill me. Last time, we went through 5 rounds of edits just because they didn’t ‘get’ it the first time.
I spend 6+ hours just on the initial consult trying to understand the client. If they could just show me what they want, I could focus on crafting it.
of buyers struggled to articulate their design vision
average jeweler time on the initial consultation
revision cycles per project from communication breakdowns
Competitive landscape · fast, personal, or polished — pick one
Thenewblack.ai
- Fast generation
- Low barrier to entry
- Visual variety
- Generic outputs
- No jeweler collaboration
- Lacks context
Etsy
- Personal touch
- Direct jeweler contact
- Unique pieces
- Time-consuming
- Inconsistent quality
- No guided process
Tiffany & Co.
- Brand trust
- Quality assurance
- Polished UX
- Limited personalization
- High cost
- Template-based
& Co.Deep, but slow and costly
blackFast, but generic
Current solutions are either fast but generic, human but inefficient, or polished but shallow. There’s a clear opportunity for a guided co-creation journey that combines emotional storytelling, AI concept generation, jeweler refinement, and transparent pricing.
Both sides of the co-creation.
The research pointed to two people: Aisha, who has a story, and Robert, who makes the piece. Their journeys show where each one gets stuck today.
Tap a stage to see what they’re doing, thinking, and where the opportunity is.
AI as the translator, not the maker.
Four things came out of the research. Together they turned the problem into one design question.
AI as translation layer
AI bridges communication gaps by turning emotional narratives into visual design concepts jewelers can refine.
Co-creation over automation
Users want guidance and collaboration, not full automation. The goal is AI-assisted human craftsmanship.
Pricing transparency
Early cost estimates tied to design complexity increase confidence and reduce drop-off.
Structured yet flexible
Jewelers need structured briefs for efficiency, while customers need freedom to personalize.
create a platform that translates consumers’ emotional stories into actionable design briefs for jewelers — while preserving human craftsmanship and maintaining transparency around feasibility, iteration, and pricing?
From a story to a brief.
The customer answers a few guided questions instead of facing a blank prompt. AI turns the answers into concepts and a written brief. The jeweler receives that brief, not a feeling.
STEP 1
Share the story
STEP 2
Guided choices
- Occasion
- EngagementWeddingAnniversaryBirthday
- Style
- MinimalVintageElegant
- Material
- GoldSilverResin
- Sketch
- Draw it together
STEP 3
AI concepts
Regenerate or approve, preview, then try it on in AR.
STEP 4
A brief, not a feeling
- Quote
- Design a futuristic, bio-morphic necklace with a continuous wavy form… translucent, amber-colored material that mimics the flow of liquid.
- Budget
- $480
- Material
- Translucent resin & gold alloy
- Style
- Futuristic & organic
STEP 5
The jeweler refines
A loop of emails
4–6 hours on the first consultation, then 3–5 revision cycles per project (interviews).
One guided line
The jeweler starts from concepts and a structured brief instead of a paragraph of feelings.
Ten stages, two apps, one piece.
Every order moves through the same ten stages on both apps. Each stage has one owner, so both sides always know whose turn it is, and money only moves once there is something concrete to agree on.
Request first, pay later
Sending a request is free. The deposit is only paid once the jeweler has read the brief and confirmed the price.
Two revisions, visible
Design approval happens on the model itself, with pinned notes. Two rounds are included and the counter is always visible, which targets the 3–5 revision cycles found in interviews.
Delivery closes the loop
Confirming delivery releases the balance and asks for a review, which then appears on the jeweler’s profile for the next customer.
Three systems behind it · one shared platform
The customer app and the jeweler workspace meet in a platform layer that holds the AI translation, marketplace, payments and messages.
In the studio · from brief to a piece in your hands
STEP 1AI processingSTEP 2Artist refinementSTEP 3Physical prototypeSTEP 4Metal castingSTEP 5Quality checkSTEP 6TransitSTEP 7DeliveryA guided path instead of a blank prompt.
Wireframes first, then a visual language, then final screens for both apps.
Wireframes · every flow, screen by screen
Scroll sideways through each flow. Tap any screen to enlarge it.
Visual language · liquid, glassy, a little iridescent
#EADDFFPrimary visual
#6750A4Secondary visual
#4A4458Primary text
#79747ESecondary text
Final screens · from a story to a piece you can wear
On mobile, the customer explores, shares a story, picks materials, reviews AI concepts, tries the piece on in AR, and chooses a jeweler.
The whole cycle, working.
I built the cycle as a working prototype: the phone app and the jeweler’s workspace share one set of data, so every action on one side shows up on the other.
What stays human.
EchoMade treats jewelry design as a collaboration between the user, the AI, and the maker. The AI’s job is narrow: turn a feeling into something a jeweler can hold and argue with. Everything after that stays human.
Give AI a narrow job
People asked for help, not automation. So the AI only writes the brief and sketches concepts, and the jeweler stays the designer.
Always show whose turn it is
Interviews kept coming back to email ping-pong. Giving every stage one owner makes the next step obvious on both sides.
Price before commitment
Two in three had abandoned a custom piece over complexity. An early estimate, then a real quote before any payment, lowers that barrier.
Copyright © 2026 Anqi Wang