ABOUT
We are obsessed with making jewellery and want to share this passion with you. In a playful, intuitive way, everyone becomes a jewellery maker themselves, and there are no limits to the design. We make sure that all the pieces come out nicely and you will love them.
THE PROCESS
The preparation of the carved wax pieces takes place in Zurich, where we adjust the size more precisely and fix broken elements or other mistakes. When the wax pieces are ready for casting, we send them to our casting partner in Schaffhausen, who casts the pieces professionally. All pieces are cast in recycled silver.
The casting process is called lost wax casting and is a thousand year old process that probably had its beginnings around the 4th century BC. The principle has remained the same, although individual components have of course become more technically sophisticated over time. This process allows for highly precise moulds and is therefore suitable for the most ambitious designs - but at the same time it also means that the smallest defects are visible, which is why precise work is required.
In the wax melting process, the original model is carved in wax, later set in plaster and burnt out at over 1000 degrees. When the plaster is burnt out, the wax flows out of the mould and the plaster retains the original shape of the piece as a hollow mould. The metal is then poured into the plaster mould and the piece is created in the exact shape of the cavity. The hot plaster is immediately put in cold water so that the plaster dissolves in the water, thus exposing the metal piece.
When this step is done, the goldsmith's work begins. The surface of the piece is still rough and the casting is clearly visible. Through various grinding and polishing stages, the surface is refined in our studio in Zurich until it has the desired appearance.
GOLD PLATING
If desired, we gold plate the pieces with recycled gold at the end. When it comes to gold plating, it is important to know that it is a layer of gold that is applied. This layer is 5 micron, which is thicker than the usual gold plated pieces, but even this layer will wear off after a while. The good news, however, is that the pieces can always be gold plated again.
TRANSPARENCY
All our pieces are cast in recycled silver and for gold-plated pieces we use recycled gold too. For the gilding and casting we work with external partners in Schaffhausen and Solothurn. All the other work takes place in our studio in Zurich. The tools in the set are cleaned and reused after each return.