In the good old days of 3D printing hype, a new designer or artist was working with additive as a medium every week.People would try to get us to write about opening a plastic bag.Now you have to work a bit harder to get noticed by the likes of us.
Designer Maeve Gillies of MaeVona has caught our eye with the new Tùsaire collection.The collection was created with the help of Platinum Guild International (PGI), a promotional organization that hopes to convince us all to embrace platinum jewelry.MaeVona makes jewelry with a Celtic twist, and this collection of 30 works is no exception.
The collection includes earrings, colliers, rings, and more—some pieces even feature Scottish stones.Tùsaire means “pioneer” in Scottish Gaelic, and Gillies is doing tùsaireach work with platinum and additive.Some of the jewelry items are finished, while others are left unfinished to show how they emerge from the machine.
“This exciting new technology, and my amazing technical collaborators, have allowed me to start to bring to life my dreams of where platinum can take us- To see the collection realized in full precious metal with my Celtic-inspired style, is a magical experience,” Gillies said.“We really wanted to put 3D printing of platinum to the test, to identify advantages and challenges, in hope to expediate the technology’s application in jewelry to create novel designs and experience,” said Tai Wong, global director of innovation at PGI.There is no doubt additive manufacturing will be very important for the future of jewelry, as it unlocks many new possibilities,” stated Tai Wong, global director of innovation at PGI.
The collection is built around the story of “The Lost Jewels of Caledonia,” where MaGillieseve has woven a tale with each character receiving their own jewel.The items are pricey, with the Ring of the Queen of Stars (at the top) retailing for $9,760, the Ear Drops of the Queen of Stars below that going for $14,550, the Princess of Rivers necklace priced at $34,950, and the Cuff of the Dawn Prince at $9,120.It’s not disclosed what process or processes are being used, but some of the parts appear powder bed fusion-y—though they could be binder jet as well.
Cookson and EOS have been able to 3D print platinum for a while now.Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) for precious metals tends to be expensive due to material lost to condensate.The high reflectivity of platinum means green lasers or special setups are usually required.
Reduced build volumes are essential—owing to the high powder cost and need for control—as is a consistent processing window, due to issues with porosity and part quality.An alternative could be the use of Legor and its platinum process via binder jet.Legor is an expert in metal injection molding (MIM), jewelry, and powders, and it has been 3D printing jewelry in precious metals for years.
MIM scales better than LPBF, while both processes offer a much better “buy-to-fly” ratio than many traditional methods.However, the use of direct 3D printing in the jewelry industry is rare, as people prefer to work with the processes they know and have mastered.Only for specific designs—where the economic stars align—are jewelry makers turning to 3D printing.
Meanwhile, indirect 3D printing, where wax or resin printed parts are cast, is used for millions of jewelry parts worldwide.For more jewelry makers to adopt Legor or Cookson’s processes, more education and tools around building business cases need to be made available.For some parts, 3D printing makes perfect sense; for others, it completely does not.
We can see a remarkable difference in the adoption rates of additive manufacturing in the luxury industry versus the jewelry industry.Luxury companies are currently adopting 3D printing rapidly across several product lines and with various technologies.These firms are also using 3D printing for jewelry, while pure-play jewelry companies tend to view the technology as a curiosity.
Go-to-market and fashion risk calculations lie at the foundation of this underexplored trend.That disparity should dissipate with more example collections like this one.Gillies was previously the head of design at platinum jewelry specialists Domino, making her especially well-suited to work with the material in this way.
It’s unclear how much momentum platinum currently has in high-end jewelry, but this may change.With a crash in diamond prices and an expected rise in gold prices, there are plenty of opportunities to innovate.Less interest in mined diamonds and greater acceptance of lab-grown diamonds sent diamond prices 75% lower at the end of January.
Worse still, such a crash could dismantle the De Beers monopoly and challenge the notion that abundant diamonds are a store of value.This could shift the value of jewels toward their designers’ names or cutting-edge design, for example.Alternatively, it could mean designers will begin overusing previously prohibitively expensive natural diamonds or turn more freely to lab-grown ones.
Gold, meanwhile, is up 10% since the beginning of the year and 34% over the past 12 months.As increased economic uncertainty often fuels gold rallies, its price is likely to rise further.In contrast, platinum prices tend to fall when economic growth slows and industrial demand drops.
Currently, an ounce of platinum costs about a third of an ounce of gold, and that disparity may widen if growth weakens and uncertainty persists.Kudos to whoever is handling market data over at PGI, as this seems like the perfect moment to rekindle interest in platinum jewelry.Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
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