10
A. Cappellieri et al.
Reducing the environmental impact is also possible by creating durable objects
and promoting creativity through circular strategies. Producing enough gold for a
simple wedding ring creates at least 20 tons of waste. Thus, since 2006, Monique
Péan uses only recycled gold and platinum. The designer’s recycling activities are not
limited to metal, but also include the recovery of precious stones: she travels around
the world to find materials that do not require industrial extraction. She collaborates
with local artisans and turns to researchers to assess the sustainability of the materials
she finds.
Recycled gold, silver and other metals are very on-trend right now as they claim
to reduce primary mining and make a real difference to the environment. They are
recycled from the Earth’s existing metal supply like discarded technology, such as
mobiles phones, televisions and computers and make an eco-friendly alternative to
the socially and environmentally destructive process of mining the earth.
In this age of technology, with rapid advances and built-in obsolescence, enormous amounts of electronic waste are produced. Furthermore, as gold is a valuable
substance worth recycling, it also enables the co-recovery of many other less-valuable
metals and ceramics. Some may claim recycled gold is nothing new as the jewellery
profession has recycled its metal since artisans first started crafting gold and silver
adornment some 5000 years ago and the process for scrapping gold and silver is
standard practice within the industry, but still, it is very newsworthy.
The Campana Brothers, the creative duo of Brazilian designer brothers, are part of
this scenario of valorizing local materials, often discarded, with the aim of protecting
and safeguarding the environmental resources.
The materials, be them humble and modest, or rich and sumptuous, for the Campanas are always the starting point for the design process, from chairs to lamps,
from fashion accessories to jewellery. Bones’ Structure, for example, is a modular
necklace formed by a set of scrap leather parts that can be assembled in various ways
by the consumer through magnets. Production waste usually has irregularities that
make the pieces unique and never obvious in their imperfection.
The concept of modular product is itself part of global sustainability perspectives
because it offers the possibility of combining the elements in countless configurations, satisfying the need given by different occasions of use. In fact, modular jewels
allow the user to intervene on the arrangement of predefined parts, to combine them
and wear them in various ways. This is the case of Precious Molecules by Massimiliano Adami, a collection made up of submultiples, assembled parts, each of which
forms the core of the structural elements of the jewellery piece. Units to be assembled
as parts of a kit, as in the Drilling Lab Project which creates a precious alphabet reinterpreting the structures of industrial clamps; Manuganda’s Compo describes a modular chain that can be disassembled and reassembled in different ways, stimulating
the creativity of the wearer.
With a view to global sustainability, research is moving towards the development
of ecological and performing materials and the optimization of production processes
in order to reduce resource consumption and the use of toxic substances. The key
to renewal lies in interdisciplinary experimentation, the outcome of a mixture of
A. Cappellieri et al.
Reducing the environmental impact is also possible by creating durable objects
and promoting creativity through circular strategies. Producing enough gold for a
simple wedding ring creates at least 20 tons of waste. Thus, since 2006, Monique
Péan uses only recycled gold and platinum. The designer’s recycling activities are not
limited to metal, but also include the recovery of precious stones: she travels around
the world to find materials that do not require industrial extraction. She collaborates
with local artisans and turns to researchers to assess the sustainability of the materials
she finds.
Recycled gold, silver and other metals are very on-trend right now as they claim
to reduce primary mining and make a real difference to the environment. They are
recycled from the Earth’s existing metal supply like discarded technology, such as
mobiles phones, televisions and computers and make an eco-friendly alternative to
the socially and environmentally destructive process of mining the earth.
In this age of technology, with rapid advances and built-in obsolescence, enormous amounts of electronic waste are produced. Furthermore, as gold is a valuable
substance worth recycling, it also enables the co-recovery of many other less-valuable
metals and ceramics. Some may claim recycled gold is nothing new as the jewellery
profession has recycled its metal since artisans first started crafting gold and silver
adornment some 5000 years ago and the process for scrapping gold and silver is
standard practice within the industry, but still, it is very newsworthy.
The Campana Brothers, the creative duo of Brazilian designer brothers, are part of
this scenario of valorizing local materials, often discarded, with the aim of protecting
and safeguarding the environmental resources.
The materials, be them humble and modest, or rich and sumptuous, for the Campanas are always the starting point for the design process, from chairs to lamps,
from fashion accessories to jewellery. Bones’ Structure, for example, is a modular
necklace formed by a set of scrap leather parts that can be assembled in various ways
by the consumer through magnets. Production waste usually has irregularities that
make the pieces unique and never obvious in their imperfection.
The concept of modular product is itself part of global sustainability perspectives
because it offers the possibility of combining the elements in countless configurations, satisfying the need given by different occasions of use. In fact, modular jewels
allow the user to intervene on the arrangement of predefined parts, to combine them
and wear them in various ways. This is the case of Precious Molecules by Massimiliano Adami, a collection made up of submultiples, assembled parts, each of which
forms the core of the structural elements of the jewellery piece. Units to be assembled
as parts of a kit, as in the Drilling Lab Project which creates a precious alphabet reinterpreting the structures of industrial clamps; Manuganda’s Compo describes a modular chain that can be disassembled and reassembled in different ways, stimulating
the creativity of the wearer.
With a view to global sustainability, research is moving towards the development
of ecological and performing materials and the optimization of production processes
in order to reduce resource consumption and the use of toxic substances. The key
to renewal lies in interdisciplinary experimentation, the outcome of a mixture of