What consequences may additive manufacturing have on the jewellery industry?

In an age when everything is increasingly mechanized, some sectors are still very much manual. But what would the consequences be for these professions if new technologies come into play? Jewellery is already using techniques that enable it to be faster in the production line, but its production could evolve even further thanks to 3D printers and, in particular, direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) and the lost-wax method. To study the kind of companies potentially interested in using this technology, and whether 3D printing could change the perception and/or quality of the final product, we will research the state of knowledge in the literature and what specialists think about it. We will clarify what jewellery is according to the literature in comparison with Haute Joaillerie and accessory jewellery, i.e. large-scale production using precious raw materials. Research has also shown that DMLS can be used to process gold and other precious metals, and could thus help the jewellery sector to evolve. Some sources explained that it was already in use, or at least being developed in the sector without naming the companies that use it. We will compare this research with the opinion of the interviewees. By cross-referencing the both sets of information, it was therefore concluded that DMLS was little or unknown in the jewellery sector, and that the lost-wax technique is broadly used, despite the fact that no source of literature made mention of it. However, the advantages of both methods of additive manufacturing in terms of production time and raw material savings were confirmed by stakeholders and the literature. However the literature and the interviewees diverge about the work of the jeweller. In comparation with the literature, stakeholders also highlighted the financial investment that DMLS could represent upstream. All this research suggests that although additive manufacturing can be a net positive for the jewellery sector, it should be used sparingly as the DMLS is not currently financially efficient for all jewellery companies.