Ponoko

If you’ve ever wanted to design or make your own jewelry but don’t know how or you’re a jewelry artisan wishing to design jewelry in ways you haven’t before, then Ponoko is for you.

Ponoko is an innovative website where the designing, manufacturing, sale and distribution of custom designs are streamlined into a single on-demand service. You could call Ponoko your very own personal jewelry factory. What is remarkable is the ability to create product plans with Ponoko’s help. They also offer some product plans for sale and some for free if you’re not up to designing completely on your own. You then upload the finished product plans directly to a local Ponoko factory which then makes the product and sends it to you.

Users can open an account for free but obviously materials will have to be selected and paid for. Once made, you can either keep your creation or take pictures and upload it back on their online showroom site for sale. Ponoko even handles the shipping to the customer. This totally eliminates the need to maintain inventories or find another site for marketing. The best part is there are no minimum order limits.

Most of the creations featured are jewelry but there are also other accessories and household items. They are currently offering a Ponoko Design Challenge for jewelry designers where the top 20 will get their creations made and shipped for free and the overall winner bags $1000.