RESEARCH

PAVET 00 ΒΕ 2

Industrial design, manufacturing and promotion of jewels made of noble metals (niobium, titanium), using innovative techniques

PAVET 00 BE 2 is a research project funded by the General Secretariat for Research & Technology, Hellenic Ministry of Development in the frame of the Operational Programme for Competitiveness.

Objectives

The object of the research is the development of an innovative process for jewel creation in which modern technologies and materials (niobium and titanium) will be applied. The proposed technique aims to change the traditional, time-consuming design and production of jewels, through computational design and copying methods.

In addition, the new products are beyond the traditional designs, composing impressive modern inspirations due to the possibilities offered by anodising.

In the end, the new production process is based on modern automated techniques and leads to mass-production.

Background

The techniques used till now for jewel production are time and money consuming. In traditional jewellery for instance, specialised technicians chase the desired design on wax. This process includes several problems like the frequent repetition of the same design when the same model is produced in different sizes, or when the wax prototype breaks easily, or even when there is a repetitive design in the same model.

Another problem that usually occurs, is the difficulty to define the right quantity of the material that is required and therefore to calculate the real cost before the completion of the jewel production.
Finally, a very experienced and specialized personnel is needed which turns the jewel production in an industrial scale almost impossible.

Scientific Aims

The most important objective of the program is to reverse the traditional techniques for jewel production, by applying an innovative process, which combines several modern technologies (copying with laser scanning, computational industrial design, rapid prototyping, digital cutting, die casting, anodising). The new method includes also the use of modern materials like niobium (Ni) and titanium (Ti).

These noble metals are chosen due to their exceptional properties and the high quality of their final products. In particular, niobium is an innovative material for the Greek jewel market, which also adds value to the final product.

The applied method consists of three stages, the computational design, the production and the final finishing-decoration. The launching of this method in the market will result in the improvement of the final products quality, will upgrade the offered services and will contribute to the cost and time reduction by offering the chance for mass production.

The rapid jewel production will offer the opportunity for seasonal creations and their launching in innovative markets. In addition, new specialized working positions will be created. In the end, the use of new materials will result in the broadening of the product and design range of jewellery that already exist in the Greek market.