Written by Ines Karu-Salo, Sign2Act. First published at Medium.
3D printed jewellery is the future of personalised fine jewellery.
Photo: Disrupting the Jewellery Industry: 3D printer at the Cloud Factory in Estonia.
Direct precious metal 3D printing technology enables to create one of the kind designs, saves resources, is a big step forward to a zero waste industry and offers customers to have personalised jewellery instead of other items that are sold to everyone. Additive manufacturing processes (aka 3D printing) also guarantee the quality standards comparable to those obtained by using the traditional production technics, mean time and cost saving benefits, use fewer human resources and have almost irrelevant environmental impact. Firstly, 3D printing enables to minimize waste as everything can be produced on-demand and allows an almost 100% reuse rate of the non-consumed and non-contaminated metal powder used to print jewellery — the need to refine metals is reduced by a great extent. Material used for support structures is not contaminated and can be simply remelted and used for other purposes. Furthermore, the technology also allows to skip several process steps which were a must in the lost wax casting process as we will see our creation become a real metallic piece directly from the CAD/CAM design. The environmental impact is also reduced by skipping of many process steps which require higher consumption of electrical energy and other consumable materials.
“3D printing guarantees the quality standards comparable to those obtained by using the traditional production technics, means time & cost saving benefits, uses fewer human resources & have almost irrelevant environmental impact. ”
Today, I am very happy because I can share some good news with you and celebrate the launch of my brand’s ethical jewellery collection, Good Heart, that embodies a mixture of Scandinavian simplicity, elegance and modernised ethnic details. I see that simple can be harder than complex but a delicate combination of both make a design stand out and that is exactly what KiRiVOO has aimed with its creation. I really hope to astonish all thoughtful and powerful women who love uniqueness but also care about the future of our Planet! The collection is designed in partnership with Kati Kask, Marek Jõeleht and Tarmo Tael, and produced in co-operation with the 3D printing factory in Estonia. The jewellery is made of the Argentium sterling silver 925 that is ethically sourced from Italy (certified member no. 00001020 of the Responsible Jewellery Council, testifying to its ethical credentials). All delivered to customers in the FSC certified eco-friendly craft boxes. As always, the goal of mine and my brand is to reduce the social and environmental impacts of our products and make sure these are produced responsibly throughout the supply chain. If you like what you see then please help to share our work with others by following us via social media. :)
Photo: KiRiVOO.com 3D printed jewellery. Photos by Galina Deinega