The Collective Consciousness of Jewelry Making
You know what’s worse than discovering someone out there is selling jewelry almost identical to yours? Finding out they’ve been doing it longer than you.
Just goes to show that more than one person can come up with the same idea.
Sometimes people think in similar ways. It just happens.
There’s a thing called “multiple discovery” that is described as: “… the hypothesis that most scientific discoveries and inventions are made independently and more or less simultaneously by multiple scientists and inventors”.
I would think all forms of art would work in the same way.
BTW, I’m not talking about stealing or copying ideas. I’m talking about two people who just happen to create remarkably similar designs. I'm assuming it's more likely with less complex designs but it sure as heck happens with simple designs a lot.
I think it can happen randomly (just happen) and I think it can happen subconsciously (you get an idea seemingly from nowhere but in truth it could be inspired by something you saw months or years ago that you’ve forgotten about).
Don’t wig out. This has been happening since the beginning of people.
My best advice is that if you have an idea, implement it without delay. It could behoove you to be the first or one of the first to get it out into the world before the other people who come up with the same idea do.