Two years ago, architect and designer Joel Kahn founded jewelry design firm ParaForma in Melbourne, Australia, with a vision of enabling creativity and uniqueness in a fast-paced world that is mostly automated and has been crowded with mass-produced, short-lived fashion trends.
“Fashion trends come and go with every season, but at ParaForma, we don’t want to chase after what’s in right now. We believe that every woman has her very own, personal style, and in order to express that, she needs accessories that are as unique and special as she is. This is why we offer a high level of customization for all of our jewelry pieces,” the website reads. “We support equality for all no matter who you are, where you are from, what your belief is or your sexual orientation or gender. ParaForma is the first jewelry company that has made it possible for clients to easily become their own designers and engrave or emboss a personal message seamlessly into their own rings.”
While ParaForma has been around since 2016, the firm officially launched this month with a mission to help people craft and sell their own custom jewelry lines, while also helping to take their brand to the next level.
But jewelry tech, like smart watches and 3D printed jewelry, has been increasing. ParaForma is working to use 3D printing and other technology to remove the barriers and open the jewelry world up to entrepreneurs with custom-made jewelry lines.
In addition to helping people unlock their personal creativity and turn it into a viable business, the firm’s smart technology and unique solution could help democratize the entire industry.
Kahn said that it’s not easy to turn a profit from creativity, which is one of the reasons he wanted to make the process easier by helping his clients use technology like 3D printing to set up their own streamlined jewelry startups.
“There is nothing harder than starting your own business or to expand your brand successfully,” Kahn said.
“Let us take care of these tasks for you, so that you can focus on the more important things in your life.”
ParaForma makes it possible for entrepreneurs to create their own affordable 3D printed jewelry lines, which have the same high quality that’s expected of statement pieces. For added personalization, branding or messages, like icons and logos, can also be embossed or engraved onto selected rings.
“While most jewelry brands use 3D printing to produce ever changing trends of jewelry in high quantities, ParaForma uses this technology to create timeless individual pieces of high quality,” the website states. “Each one of our rings is custom-crafted on order and designed by you. This is a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach, as there are no wasted materials, no overproduction, and no long storage time.”
There are three simple customization steps to follow on the ParaForma website in order to custom craft your own jewelry designs. First, choose the shape you want for your ring, then the texture, and finally the precious metal. For shape, there are eight collections to choose from, ranging from Classic and Ripple to Surge and Morph, each offering five unique shapes; the Wave collection is the only one that doesn’t offer the Poly shape.
Once you’ve created the ring and finished the checkout process, the order will be sent to the firm’s New York City 3D printing facility to be 3D printed in wax. Then, a traditional casting process burns away the wax and replaces it with your selected metal; options include, among others, silver, 18K gold, and 14K rose gold plated. Depending on the metal you choose, prices range from less than $150 (bronze) to upwards of $3,800 (platinum).
Finally, your completed ring will be polished by highly experienced jewelers and shipped to the address you provided on the website.
ParaForma is here to help, whether entrepreneurs want to sell a unique piece of jewelry without having to start a full-fledged business, or just increase their branding with a beautiful, one-of-a-kind 3D printed ring.
Discuss this story and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below.
[Images provided by ParaForma]