Loch Ness · HANDMADE, CHECKED · Jewelry vocabulary
Part of the guide: Is Handmade Jewelry Really Handmade? What It Guarantees
By Camille G., founder of Loch Ness · Published September 29, 2026 · Last updated September 29, 2026
Short answer: only one of these words has a precise legal meaning in the US, and it’s the strictest one. The others describe something real, just much more loosely. Here’s what each word actually promises, where the law says something, and how to choose the honest one for your own pieces.
Human Origin Label · For jewelry makers Whatever word you use, let buyers see how you work. Handmade or hand-assembled, the most convincing answer is your process. Show it once on a video call and get a public page anyone can check. Get verified, it’s free → Not ready for a review? Get the free self-declared badge →Handmade: the strict one
The US Federal Trade Commission’s Jewelry Guides treat “handmade” as a specific claim. The entire shaping and forming of the piece, from raw materials, along with its finishing and decoration, has to be done by hand labor and manually controlled methods that let the maker control and vary each part of each piece (16 CFR § 23.2(a)).
The Guides even say what counts as raw material: sheet, strip, wire, precious metal clay, ingots, casting grain and similar stock that hasn’t already been made into parts or blanks. So “handmade” means you started from material, not from components.
In practice, that covers a ring you sawed, forged and soldered from silver wire, or a pendant you shaped from metal clay. It doesn’t really cover a necklace built from factory-made chain, clasps and charms, however carefully you put it together.
Hand-forged, hand-finished, hand-polished: one step, done by hand
These describe a single operation rather than the whole piece. The same FTC section says a piece should only be called hand-forged, hand-engraved, hand-finished or hand-polished if that particular operation was done by hand, in a way that lets the maker control it on each part (16 CFR § 23.2(b)).
That makes them useful, honest words. If you bought a cast ring and polished it by hand, “hand-polished” says exactly that, and nothing more.
Hand-assembled, hand-strung, hand-knotted
No federal guide defines these, and that’s fine: they describe themselves. Stringing and knotting beads someone else cut and drilled is real skill and real time. It’s simply assembly, and saying so builds more trust than stretching “handmade” to cover it.
Handcrafted and artisan
In the US, the FTC Jewelry Guides don’t define “handcrafted” or “artisan” at all. Look through the list of sections and you’ll find “handmade” and the hand-processed terms, but neither of these words (16 CFR Part 23, table of contents). They suggest care and skill without telling you how the piece was made.
France is a useful counter-example. There, “artisan” and its derivatives, such as “artisanal” or “fabrication artisanale”, are protected. Only businesses with the official status of artisan, which requires a qualification or professional experience in the trade, can use them to name or promote a business or product (DGCCRF). Using the word without that status can lead to a €7,500 fine (Code de l’artisanat, art. L241-1 and following).
“Made by”, “Designed by” and other marketplace labels
Since July 2024, Etsy asks sellers to label every item as made, designed, sourced or handpicked by them. “Designed by” covers items produced by an outside production partner, generative AI or other digital tools (TechCrunch). These labels are useful, but they are declarations by the seller, not checks.
The quick reference
| Word | What it should mean | Who defines it |
|---|---|---|
| Handmade | Shaped, formed and finished by hand, starting from raw material | FTC Jewelry Guides (US) |
| Hand-forged / hand-polished | That specific step was done by hand | FTC Jewelry Guides (US) |
| Hand-assembled / hand-strung | Put together by hand from ready-made parts | Nobody: plain description |
| Handcrafted | Hands were involved somewhere | Nobody |
| Artisan | Skill and small scale (US) · protected status (France) | Nobody in the US · Code de l’artisanat in France |
| Designed by | The seller designed it, someone or something else produced it | Etsy’s own labels |
Which word should you use?
Describe the step you actually did, and be specific. “Hand-knotted on silk, with amethyst beads sourced from a supplier I’ve worked with for years” is more convincing than “handmade with love”, and nobody can argue with it. Specific beats impressive.
If you do shape your pieces from raw material, “handmade” is yours to use. The next question buyers will ask is how they can know. That’s where showing your process matters more than the word itself.
Want a public page that shows how you really work, whatever word you use? See how the Human Origin review works →Now that you know what the words should mean, here’s how to spot the shops that use them without meaning any of it: how to spot a fake handmade jewelry shop.
Full disclosure: Human Origin, the label mentioned on this page, is something I created. I’m flagging it so you can weigh what I say about it. The facts above rest on the sources below.
Sources
- FTC Jewelry Guides — 16 CFR § 23.2, misuse of the terms “handmade,” “hand-polished,” etc. (via Cornell LII)
- FTC Jewelry Guides — 16 CFR Part 23, list of sections (via Cornell LII)
- DGCCRF (French Ministry of the Economy) — Using the word “artisan”
- Légifrance — Code de l’artisanat, use of the word “artisan” and its derivatives (art. L241-1 and following)
- TechCrunch — Etsy adds AI-generated item guidelines in new seller policy (July 2024)
Update log
September 29, 2026 — First publication.
About the author — Camille G., founder of Loch Ness
Full-stack developer and self-taught jewelry maker from 2013 to 2024, Camille designs and codes every interactive experience on Loch Ness Lab — from the healing crystal bracelet configurator to the free tools at lochness-paris.com/apps, including the research behind the creativity test’s scoring algorithm.