In
August of 2003 I submitted my Hug Ring design to the Wire Artist Jeweler Magazine.
I had never seen anything like it before even though it was a relatively simple design.
When I designed it I was working on something else and thought......Hummm......I
wonder what it would look like if I did this and then did that, and the Hug ring was born. I called it the Hug Ring because
the way the wires folded over on each side of the ring reminded me of a Hug. In February of 2004 the Hug Ring was published
in the Wire Artist Jeweler magazine and was featured on the cover. One day, several years later a friend of mine told me they
received an email advertising, for sale, a Hug Ring along with a Hug Ring tutorial and that it looked exactly like my
Hug Ring that I contributed to the magazine. Some time went by and I thought maybe I should look into this. So I Googled Hug
Ring and I almost fell off my chair. There were multiple postings of Hug Rings that were EXACTLY the same as the Hug
Ring I contributed to the Wire Artist Jeweler magazine. Not only were these people claiming it as their own design they didn't
even change the name! I was quite naive at the time and had no idea what to do if anything.
With the support of Helen Goga, who published this magazine, we proceeded
to contact these people one at a time.Text and photos were taken right out of the magazine so the magazine was also involved.
Because Helen wrote and photographed all of the articles that appeared in the magazine, there were serious copyright infringments.
Many projects were either Mavis Llewellyn or Helen's designs, and many were contributed by artists like myself. Helen (being
an honorable person) was quite disturbed by what we had discovered and felt an obligation to the artists who so generously
contributed their designs to the magazine.
At this time (August, 2009), we still have not been able to stop all who have been claiming
this design as their own and more are now surfacing. It has even been said to me that maybe I was the one who took the
design from someone else; that person was one of the people that took it right out of the magazine (photos and all). I was
told that this design must be public domain because it's been seen everywhere for years; no one could point out just where
"everywhere" was, etc. etc. etc..........you get the idea. It doesn't take much for the original designer to be
completely lost or forgotten, or accused of taking the design from the very person (or persons) that took it from them.
Sadly my story is not the exception but rather it is becoming the rule. More and more talented artists with
much to contribute to our art are beginning to think that they do not want to contribute their designs anymore. With what
has happened to me, why would they subject themselves to having their work stolen and then be put in the position of defending
themselves? This attitude can be devastating to our art. Many years ago when I first saw wire jewelry I very much wanted to
learn how to create it. I couldn't find anyone who would teach me. Why? Because the old time Wire Wrappers didn't want their
work stolen. This way of thinking almost put our art and those wonderful designs into extinction, dying with the Artist. We
can't let this happen again.
I'm hoping that my story will inspire all of you talented artists to think twice when writing a tutorial or selling
a piece of jewelry. Ask yourself where did this design come from? Did the design or technique come from a magazine, a dvd?
Maybe you saw it on the net, or learned it in a class. Do you know who the designer is? If the designer is still alive and
the design is relatively new did you contact the artist and ask permission to use their design? Is the design so old and so
many have done it that it's original designer is lost and the design is now in public domain? Many artists who have contributed
much to our art have passed and at this time it is unclear what designs they contributed.
And then there are those designers that we know from publications, tapes
or Dvds. Their designs can be made or sold (so long as you ask for their permission), but you must give credit to the artist.
Writing a tutorial on that specfic design, even if you change one or two things, (or found out the artist has passed away)
is not allowed. Right now there are more questions than there are answers and I haven't even scratched the surface as
to what we can do about this problem. Hopefully we can start with awareness and work towards finding out what each of
us (as artists) want to do about preserving our art.
Wouldn't you want this for yourself?
Thanks for listening, I have posted the tutorial follow the link below.
The best to all of you, Pat Capotosto
Click on link below to view tutorial
Hug Ring
