3D printing, the future of jewelry?

Did you know that by 2024, the gold ring you wear could have been 3D printed? This little revolution called additive manufacturing is comparable, according to some jewelry experts, to the arrival of digital technology in photography! As a reminder, until now, a piece of jewelry is the result of two ancestral techniques: lost wax casting (a mold into which metal is poured, then refined by hand) and machining (the craftsman starts from a metal mass that he sculpts using cutting tools to give life to a piece of jewelry). Popularized in aeronautics and developed for jewelry for around ten years, additive manufacturing which combines innovation with craftsmanship has borne fruit, that is to say its first jewelry, in 2021. Here is its functioning.

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Imagine a jeweler's drawing precisely recorded in a three-dimensional computer file. Every curve and every detail is carefully developed so that the jewelry is aesthetic and functional. The sketch is then analyzed, like a millefeuille, layer by layer, by software which injects it into a cylinder filled with gold powder. Thanks to laser fusion, the fine particles of precious metal are transformed into a solid structure which, layer by layer, gives shape to the jewel. The result is stunning, and we can't help but fear that this machine will one day replace the gesture of the human hand. “ This is not the objective, lost wax casting has been used for millennia and will remain so “, recalls Hervé Buffet, general delegate of Francenseignement, the professional economic development committee for the watchmaking, jewelry and jewelry sectors which highlights this futuristic technology in the traveling exhibition in France “Secrets of Jewelry” (recently in Lille). “ Although made with cutting-edge technologies, the jewel leaves the machine with a grainy appearance due to the laser which welded the gold particle by particle. It always requires the know-how of the craftsman for its finishing, its grinding, its polishing. These steps carried out manually bring all the relief, contrast and emotion of the creation. »

The possibility of doing things differently

Its revolution then lies in the optimization of time and the creation of movements and assemblies which were not possible until then with lost wax casting, but in several long stages by hand. “ 3D printing allows us to push the boundaries in terms of creation in the sense that we can imagine complex shapes which integrate joints, honeycombs, slide systems or even gold from the design stage. hollowed out for example. » Its limits? The cylinder containing the gold is 10 centimeters in diameter, which limits the size of the jewelry. No mixing of materials is currently possible and no precious stones can be introduced, due to the high heat of the laser. And the price of a machine (around 200,000 euros) like that of the 3 kilograms of powdered gold represents an investment. “ It is an enrichment of the jeweler's palette, which offers the possibility of doing things differently. I can tell you that the big names in jewelry are looking at this technology closely and have come to visit our technical site in Besançon. All we have to do is continue our educational mission », concludes Hervé Buffet.