PROGOL3D®, a service bureau for direct precious metal 3D printing and IED Turin, The European Design Institute, enriched their annual collaboration by launching the first PROGOL3D® DESIGN CONTEST, a real competition for creativity!
The lucky thirteen participants were given a theme: Connections and Movement. How to enhance the opportunities of SLM™ technology through design? The 3D designs created by the students of IED Turin, Jewelry and Accessories Design degree course, matched with the now-mature experience of PROGOL3D® resulted in 50 new concepts.
The project took place from October 2016 to January 2017 and the results were extraordinary.
The winner was student Claudia Rignanese with her Windswept, a bracelet made up of interconnected links that, thanks to additive manufacturing, was created as already assembled, with no need for further post-printing soldering or processing.
Mr. Damiano Zito, Progold S.p.A. CEO, comments on the project:
“It’s crucial to believe in young people and give them the possibility to conceive unexplored designs without contamination and superstructures. Direct 3D printing enables to create geometries and shapes that cannot be achieved with the traditional techniques for jewelry production. Progold experience in the metallurgy industry matched with the authority of IED Turin, to pave the way for the future of the entire industry; technological innovation and talent, that’s how you grow.”
Daniela Bulgarelli, coordinator of IED Turin Jewelry and Accessories Design degree course, adds: “Collaborating with innovation-inclined companies is one of the foundations of the IED Turin education path. If today’s students are the creative avant-gardes of the future, we have the duty to educate them with the knowledge of the most advanced technologies. SLM™ printing, as developed by Progold S.p.A., is an example and an anticipation of the on-going revolution in the goldsmithing production processes. The students of IED Turin, Jewelry and Accessories Design course, participated in the Progold Contest, by designing creative jewelry pieces that enhance the potential of SLM™ technology. The outstanding results have once again demonstrated the effectiveness of collaborations between open-minded companies and students like ours, who are ready to face the future as professionals.”
A partnership meant to last and indeed grow over time: with the beginning of the new academic year, the students of IED Turin, Jewelry and Accessories Design, will resume the cooperation with Progold, in view of the next edition of the contest, getting ready to create the jewels of the future.
