Jeweller - August Issue 2018

INNOVATIONS
Vella notes that Tino Vella Designs is working to ensure power leads
and cables become a thing of the past.
“We are exploring the possibility of incorporating portable batteries
into our showcases – this will mean that our showcases will no
longer be restricted by location,” he says. “We are also producing a
prototype for a glassless, open-display showcase with removable
LED stem lighting, as well as a tabletop display cube that would work
perfectly for product-launches,” he adds.
Brennan also sees the lighting industry continuing to innovate:
“Lighting efficiency and LED driver technology is continually
developing so any range of lighting effects imaginable will
be possible.”
Noble believes that coming technological innovations will embrace
broader and “more diverse” applications within the industry.
“I hope one day we will see fusion-welding technology as
commonplace but Australia is still catching up in this regard,” she
says. “The technology is still a reasonably big investment for smaller
workshops, but I hope the affordability will improve as it becomes
more common-place.”
Speedy advances in technology mean new tools, machines and
equipment continuously enter the market but technology means
little if jewellers lose the original, emotional aspects behind
jewellery manufacture.
After all, jewellers can work with all the tools in the world but they
should also embrace the most important tool of all – the human
touch, Botha says. “While we will continue to invest in newer
technologies to aid our processes, we will also concentrate heavily
on the most important – the ‘human’ technology.”
A December 2017 Forbes article succinctly sums it up: “There are
[technological] ideas emerging and developing that will be highly
impactful. These new ideas and software will affect almost every
store experience in the future, they will change what it means to go
to a store and they will make store experiences more worthwhile
than ever,” writes Richard Kestenbaum.
“[However], the most important thing will always be the products
and services offered for sale. Technology can facilitate the
connection between the product and the consumer but the main
event is always going to be whether the consumer and the product
are right for each other.”
After all, technology is a useful and necessary tool but still
just a tool. i
PALLOYS – PALLION