When I was young I was bought numerous toys that involved
creating my own jewellery, there was boxes of beads to create necklaces, yarn
to weave colourful friendship bracelets and so much more.
It seems like years ago now, fiddling to sting everything up
together right, there was a craft to it that seemed similar to what I thought
real jewellery-makers did. But it seems as though now the future of fashion is
slightly more removed from that idea than I thought, there is little of that
hands-on activities.
Today creating beautiful bespoke jewellery is more about
lasers and technology than beads and rendering irons. A new technology, called
sintering, has been developed by Cookson Precious Metals which makes gorgeous
jewellery from computer design.
What this means is that shoppers will be able to request
tailor made jewellery specifically for them, the process is relatively
expensive and quick to make. Laser sintering isn’t a new technology, it’s been
around for some time used in other industries but it is new to the jewellery
business.
The idea is that objects which previously had to be cast in
solid metal can now be created as hollow objects, making them both lighter and
more importantly, cheaper!
Stella Lateon, the chief executive of Cookson notes that
laser sintering will become an important aspect of the jewellery manufacturing
industry; ‘it’s inevitable that this will become an integral part of our
industry – as it has in the other industries it’s been implemented in – but
it’s a shape changer to the industry.’
It may be a shape changer but what does this mean to
traditional jewellery designers, does it signal the death toll to
craftsmanship? Cookson argues that the sintering process ‘puts the power in the
terms of the computer-aided design rather than the bench skills.’
Well we’re not sure exactly what the future of jewellery
design holds but you can rest assured that we’re going to want to check it out!
No comments:
Post a Comment