3D printed plastic jewellery has its appeal; ornate shapes in purple PLA has a certain cyberpunk look that could become popular with teens and tweens alike. And plated steel from Shapeways might work for those trying not to spend too much on precious metals. But, for high-end consumers, nothing beats real gold, silver and platinum. After publishing a post about America’s own American Pearl, a company that’s already begun looking into how 3D printing can be partnered with custom precious metal jewellery, it only made sense that we’d see similar trends pop up in other parts of the world. The Precious Project is a broad-based coalition attempting to make the UK the centre of the 3D printed jewellery industry.
Made up of five industry partners, sponsored by the UK government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and funded in part by the Technology Strategy Board, known for driving the country’s InView UAV program and battery electric vehicle fleet, the Precious Project is an initiative intent on developing cutting edge jewellery manufacturing solutions. With £212,000 from the Technology Strategy Board, the project will leverage the skills of the five following organizations: CAD developer Delcam will serve as the HQ for the project; Cookson Precious Metals (CPM), a precious metal fabrication firm which has partnered with EOS to develop a precious metal specific AM machine; product design firm Future Factories/Lionel Dean; the Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre (JIIC-BCU), a research program based out of the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD), at Birmingham City University (BCU); and, finally, the metal post-processing company Finishing Techniques.
Altogether, the consortium will pursue research and development surrounding the 3D printing of jewellery through empirical trials and demonstrations to the rest of the UK’s jewellery supply chain. To achieve these goals, the group will analyze the current state of research regarding the 3D printing of precious metals and an understanding of what’s needed to incorporate AM into the current supply chain. They will also create business models for jewellery companies interested in incorporating AM into their businesses, enhance current jewellery 3D printing techniques (by reducing the need for support structures and post-processing) and develop demonstration products to sell the technology to various jewellery companies throughout the UK.
Jan Willem Gunnink, Project Manager from Delcam, has high hopes for the Precious Project, saying: “The UK is an internationally recognised and important supplier of quality jewellery to the world’s markets but is constantly threatened by cheap imports from low labour cost economies. The Precious project is intended to offer a viable alternative manufacturing option to those who supply jewellery at the middle to higher end of the bespoke and personalised jewellery market. New online business models that exploit additive manufacturing are expected to be created and should add innovative design driven impetuous to the more traditional high street retailing sectors.” If the project succeeds, Delcam, recently acquired by Autodesk, could prove to be a precious gem for the parent company, as well.
