Jewellery World Magazine - May 2021

By Stefan Juengling
METAL REVOLT
The modern and durable alternative
metal jewellery industry
Showcase Jewellers
Gold, silver and platinum will always have the strongest presence in the modern jewellery
industry, so their cousins in the alternative metal jewellery sector can often find themselves
sidelined or regarded as inconsequential. But the grey metals have their own important place
in jewellery. So here we give the alternative metal jewellery industry some of the limelight with
input from four experts in the Australian and New Zealand jewellery industry.
Alternative metals such as stainless
steel, titanium, tungsten, cobalt and
zirconium have always had their
unique place in the jewellery industry, fitting
that place between costume jewellery and
precious metal jewellery. In a 2017 science
journal article titled “Use of Titanium and
Tungsten as an Alternative to Gold in Jewellery
Manufacturing”, the authors said that while
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the majority of jewellers use noble metals for
manufacturing their jewellery, the price rise of
these noble metals in recent years demands
innovation, and one of those avenues that
could be adopted could be the use of nonnoble
metals.
Attractive price point and unique
features
The authors of that article went on to say that
pursuing alternative metals would not only
decrease the cost of raw materials, but also
develop products with new and innovative
design. This is a belief shared by most of our
contributors.
Director of Victorian-based alternative metal
jewellery company Etrnl Jamie Nadler said
that what makes alternative metal jewellery
attractive is that it’s affordable, strong, more
durable and able to be made into a wide
range of designs to bring out the customer’s
personality.
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jewellery world - May 2021