The design world is using 3D printing to create everything from personal accessories to lampshades. Watchmakers have used the precision it affords to create intricate mechanisms and entire watchcases. But while there are jewellers championing this new technology, others view its use disparagingly.

One technology prints directly in precious metal, using 3D printers that fire out fine layers of gold dust to build up a solid object. But the process is expensive. More commonly, jewellers use 3D printers to produce wax or resin moulds of models created using Computer Aided Design (CAD). These are then cast in precious metal via lost-wax casting – the moulds are placed into a plaster cast, into which molten metal is poured, dissolving the wax and leaving the solid metal object.
Like many industries, 3D printing threatens a certain level of disruption. Established jewellers can adopt 3D technologies, but if they have not already done so, they will definitely face challenges from the service bureaus, small-scale jewellery makers and shops.

3D printed jewellery has been a pricey option in the past few years. Now producing it is getting more economical, fast, and precise enough to make it more mainstream. For instance, instead of using 3D printers just to make wax models of designs to be cast in gold or platinum, Mario Christian Lavorato’s company ­– Daniel Christian Tang – uses 3D printers to make the end products.
For jeweller Raymond Graff, the secret to harnessing technology is to combine it with traditional techniques. “CAD and 3D printing are tools. You have to be a jeweller to know how to put those components together into a piece of jewellery,” he says. “Everything is still handmade and hand-finished. Bentleys are renowned for being handmade, but some components of a Bentley are made by machine using the same technology that we use here.”

Some brands have dipped their toes in the technology. Chanel, whose autumn/winter 2015 couture collection included a tweed jacket created using selective laser sintering – a form of 3D printing – admits to using the technology, albeit sparingly, in its fine jewellery workshops.

“3D technology is a tool to help interpret a complicated design, for example, a very intricate clasp or a perfectly symmetrical piece,” explains Georges Amer, Chanel purchasing and development director. The house uses it to produce multiple interpretations of a particular handmade design, including its lion’s head, so it is uniformly asymmetrical no matter what size or form.

But Amer points out that 3D printing is the exception, not the norm. “We encourage the development of the best traditional jewellery-making skills by asking our craftsmen to create a piece entirely by hand.”

Eddie Bakhash, CEO of American Pearl, says that with 3D printing, he no longer fears competition from cheaper overseas manufacturers.

“Now, with the advent of our platform, we’re no longer taking off-the-shelf parts and welding. There’s no jeweller at a bench with a blowtorch. The cost and labour savings is phenomenal. And we’re empowering consumers to make jewellery in real-time,” says Bakhash.

A customer can access American Pearl’s site to create a unique piece, whether a $400 pair of earrings or a necklace that goes for six figures. American Pearl’s CAD/CAM software platform outputs a digital file that is perfectly proportional, taking human error out of the equation. The company then produces a 3D printed model of the piece of jewellery, made of thermoplastic wax.