We’ve all done it; put the kettle on to help us to do another couple of hours of design in the run up to a deadline. When the pressure is on and everything has to fit and be precise whilst retaining the aesthetics of a piece you can find yourself tied up in all sorts of design knots.
This is where Opulent Ethics are finding themselves but luckily we undertook some training in four of the best jewellery CAD software packages last year and we have been able to put them to good use.
Whilst CAD has been around for quite a few years throughout various industries including the aeronautical, medical and engineering industries and is even used for making shoes, for speeding up the design process and helping us to be ethical this skill has been a god-send.
As you may know, Opulent Ethics have recently been designing a range of pomanders which will have numerous moving parts. In order to make assembly of the pomanders as quick as possible we have tried to standardise certain sections of the pomanders for use throughout the range, and make the designs precise and easy to piece together during assembly.
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| Pomander pieces drawn in Rhino |
For these designs, CAD has been an indispensible tool as it has allowed us to visualise the range in 3-dimensions, check that the movements appear to be working and alter tolerances much quicker and much more precisely than if we were attempting to make or sketch designs by hand. And there is always the safety net UNDO button for when things don’t go quite to plan.
The biggest advantage to an ethical jeweller has to be the waste reduction though. Imagine producing your piece of jewellery by hand; there is scrap and waste material at every step whereas, with CAD, your only waste is the sprue which is attached to a model in order to cast it. And this can be recycled in future castings too.
Waste reduction is one of the two main points for our pomander brief and CAD has proved itself as the perfect antidote to throw away materials. We aren’t CAD’ing the entire pomanders but those pieces which are being drawn in CAD include the technical and moving sections which, during production, would be most difficult to construct exactly and would have the largest percentage of waste as pieces would be constantly altered to fit tolerances.
And then of course, there are all the nifty tools and wizards which allow even the most computer illiterate of us to produce beautiful creations.
But it isn’t all positive; the massive increase in the use of CAD is a major factor in the decline of many other traditional hand skills and this is being noticed throughout the jewellery industry.
It has been observed in recent years that new students are being taught the latest technologies in place of hand skills and the latter are, therefore, in decline. These skills are historical and create beautiful pieces and as these are what initially attracted us all to jewellery in the first place they shouldn’t be allowed to diminish in importance.
With the recession still being felt, many trends are now leaning away from newer, more expensive technologies and concentrating more on hand crafted items. A resurgence in hand crafts and techniques is happening and we hope it will help bring back those skills which are dying out.
Opulent Ethics can’t help but think that a happy medium needs to be found with the beauty and individuality of handmade pieces being combined with the precision and reduced waste of newer technologies. Here’s hoping that Opulent Ethics manage to find that balance through our pomanders.
That’s all for now....
