Let's Talk About Trends
In a world increasingly dominated by AI and automation, 2026 is the year human hands are making a powerful comeback in jewelry. As algorithms design our digital lives and machines manufacture our physical ones, there's a quiet revolution happening at jewelers' benches across the world – a response to consumers craving the real. There's a growing desire for metal shaped by hands, stones set with intention, and designs born from the world of art, myth, symbol, and lived experience, rather than trend-forecasting software.
Jenna Tomalka at her bench, preparing dies
As the new year takes shape, I take a tour through what the industry says about coming jewelry trends, and then I walk back to my bench. Because what I see in the studio often validates and points to exactly what people are craving: not perfection, but presence; not standardized uniformity, but uniqueness; not what's merely new, but what's genuinely meaningful to them. And a Phoenix Silver twist... we can make it modern and current AND call on artists from Gothic, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Mid Century traditions to inform the design. [Read more about how historic jewelry dies inspire and inform my modern handmade designs.]
We know the forecast isn't just about what's new; it's about what's desired. What colors, shapes, and materials are resonating with how people are aiming to live their lives right now, not just what's being worn on runways or red carpets.
This year, the language of jewelry is getting louder in some places and quieter in others. Gemstones are bold. Silver is stepping up. And the handmade is being celebrated again, not as a fleeting trend, but as a fundamental truth returning to center stage. The patterns emerging for 2026 tell a story of reconnection with reality: with color, with craft, and with meaning.
The Return of Color: Gemstones With Story
After a decade of minimalism, 2026 is bringing color back in ways that feel personal and grounded. The shift is about sparkle and story. We're seeing saturated greens, deep blues, rich reds, pure pinks and purples—stones that carry emotional weight. People are drawn to what feels alive. Stones that mean something. Pieces that mark a turning point or anchor a memory.
L-R and clockwise: pewter medallions with rose quartz in star, amazonite in compass star, carnelian in star; rose quartz in French ironwork hearts earrings and pendant set; and Flaming Devotion talisman with peridot, yellow opal, malachite, and amethyst.
In the studio, I see more women choosing stones with purpose: garnet for strength, jade for harmony, carnelian for energy, rose quartz for compassion, moonstone for inner clarity. These aren't mass-produced accessories chosen from a catalog. They're intentional decisions, statements, memories, goals—each stone selected and set by human hands with specific intention.Silver's Reflective Power
Silver is stepping into its own again. It's cool, reflective, and subtly confident. While gold will always have its audience, silver feels honest right now—unpretentious and strong. It doesn't perform luxury; it embodies it. Especially when it's reclaimed and hand-finished, when it carries marks of process and touch—the subtle hammer patterns, the gentle variations in polish that only come from a maker's hands. Silver reminds us that value isn't dictated by the market—it's created through meaning and integrity.
Top: Silver Frost Cuff and Earrings with tourmalinated quartz; Bottom: Marianne of France as Gallia Warrior medallion in sterling silver.
As precious metals buyers continue to grab as much gold and silver as they can, for investment and tech and unknown reasons, we've seen prices of both nearly triple. Gold has become simply out of reach for many collectors, while silver, though also rising, remains a more accessible and meaningful alternative, especially for larger statement pieces that deserve weight and presence. In a world where everything is digitized, automated, and accelerated, silver worked by hand slows us down. It asks for attention. It rewards reflection.
Expanding the Palette: Alternative Metals for Conscious Collectors
This shifting metals landscape has inspired a renaissance in alternative materials that honor both craft and accessibility. In my studio, I'm expanding options with copper and brass for select talismans, bracelets, earrings, and charms – each offering the same handcrafted quality with distinctive warmth and character. These alternatives are conscious choices that celebrate different aesthetic traditions while acknowledging today's economic realities.
Most exciting, after rigorous testing, I've found lead-free pewter exceptional for pendants, earrings, and select bracelet designs. It takes soldering, shaping and shine remarkably well, allowing for secure stone setting and detailed impressions that capture every nuance. Some pieces will be exclusively available in this versatile material, offering new possibilities for scale, detail and value that weren't previously feasible.
Pewter impressions mounted to pewter backplates and set with semi-precious stones in pewter bezels.
The 2026 jewelry landscape embraces this material diversity. Mixed metals aren't just a trend but a thoughtful response to our changing world – combining materials not just for visual interest but for sustainability and accessibility. When you see copper accents on silver, or brass elements integrated with pewter, you're witnessing both artistic expression and practical innovation. These combinations tell stories that single-metal pieces cannot – stories of adaptability, resourcefulness, and the evolving relationship between maker, material, and wearer.
Copper and silver pair nicely, complementing texture, pattern, color and shine.
Nostalgia, Handmade, and the Pull Toward the Real
There's a longing under everything this year—a collective craving for connection to what's interesting, but also real, stable, and safe. The handmade, the imperfect, the piece that bears a trace of the maker's hand—these aren't just aesthetic choices but radical acts of resistance against mass production. This current pull looks like a version of the market force that kicked off the Arts and Crafts movement at the end of the Industrial Revolution.
Nostalgia is part of it: charms, cameos, motifs that echo other eras. But this isn't imitation; it's reclamation. A reaching back to honor the craftsmanship, care, and humanity that industrial culture keeps erasing. I've said for years that jewelry is memory you can wear. That's what's surfacing again: people want to feel that legacy when they fasten a clasp or touch a pendant mid-conversation. They want to know that another human formed this metal, set this stone, thought of this symbol, polished this edge.It's not about trend cycles; it's about truth cycles, and what we value, when.
Stacks, Layers, and Statement Silhouettes
This reclamation of craftsmanship naturally extends to how we wear our jewelry. Layering is how we're telling our stories now. (And we don't have to "dress..." but of course we can if we want!) Long necklaces over simple shirts are it. Cuffs with texture and heft. Rings stacked in quiet rebellion against the idea that you have to choose just one. Pieces don't have to match—they have to make sense, to you. They have to belong to the wearer's rhythm. 2026 is about expression without excess. A hand-forged cuff that feels like armor, a stack of hand-made rings that feel like family, a hand-pressed pendant that feels like prayer. This year, I'm thinking of the theme: jewelry made by human hands that holds ground when the world tilts.
Analog Endures
As we began with the observation that human hands are making a comeback in jewelry, we end with the certainty that those hands, and the hearts and minds behind them, are what give jewelry its lasting power. Trends are fine and fun! They remind us that the body is still a canvas. But the truth is simpler: what endures are pieces made with conscience, with intent, with human hands that know the material intimately.
Building the Flaming Devotion talisman L-R and clockwise: handmade bezel forms and backplates polished and waiting for stones; talisman encased in thermoplastic for support and set in ball vise for stone setting; all stones set and piece removed from thermoplastic; backplate with custom convertible bail at top and maker's mark at bottom.
Handmade, slow-made, story-made. Work that carries integrity through every step—from the sourcing of the metal to the moment it leaves the bench. Jewelry that bears witness to the process of its creation: the hammer marks, the polishing cloth, the fingers that shaped it into being.
French Ironwork Bezel and Rose Quartz Pewter earrings
Like any art, jewelry is a reflection of the time it's made in and the truth it's willing to tell. And right now, the truth is this: we're looking for evidence of the human touch. We want what’s real to us, what’s– dare I say it– authentic. We want and deserve the work that remembers where it came from, whose hands shaped it, and who it's for.
So yes, let's talk about color, silver, and silhouette—but let's not forget what sits beneath it all. Care. Craft. Conscience. The human touch that no machine can replicate. That's not a trend. That's the work. And I hope it speaks to you. 💜
All the items on this page will be live on my site for purchase by midnight Sunday, March 1.
From my bench to your collection, may the pieces you choose in 2026 carry both beauty and meaning.
As always, be gentle with yourselves and good to each other.
Keep Rising,
— Jenna, Witness and Maker
Sources & Further Reading
These industry and editorial sources helped shape my reflections on what’s emerging for 2026. Each offers a window into how jewelry continues to mirror culture, craft, and meaning.
- Who What Wear – “The Biggest Jewelry Trends You’ll See Everywhere in 2026.”
- Stuller Blog – “Top Jewelry Trends of 2026.”
- Florence Jewel Shop – “Jewelry Trends 2026: 9 Great Styles You’ll Love.”
- Gabriel Fine Jewelers – “2026 Jewelry Trends Buyers Are Asking About Early.”
- Glamour – “The Cameo Necklace Trend Is Back—And It’s Deeper Than Nostalgia.”
- Marie Claire UK – “Charm Bracelets Are Back—But Not How You Remember Them.”
- Woman & Home – “Jewelry Trends 2026: The Return of Bold Silver and Long Earrings.”
Leave a comment below letting me know what you think of the emerging trends or my reflections on them!