Just as air is necessary to ignite a fire, freedom is necessary for creativity. Freedom to choose materials is important for jewelers. Yes, gold, silver and platinum have always been and will be the most important and valuable, but new times bring new trends and a true artist will always try something unknown! Titanium metal has become the focus of jewelers' attention today.
It is a lightweight yet durable metal with an iridescent sheen—a revolutionary material in jewelry.
Titan was named after the mythological gods, symbolizing the embodiment of natural force, the sons of the Earth goddess. This is the strongest metal, used in spaceships and in high-tech medicine. And in high jewelry.
Here are some statements from the jewelers themselves about working with this unique metal:
Although titanium is extremely difficult to machine, it can effectively reduce the weight of a piece of jewelry because it is one of the lightest metals in the world, weighing only one-fourth the weight of gold.
says Hong Kong-based jewelry designer Cindy Chao.
The masterpiece “Brooches with Winter Leaves” from 2017 took more than two years to develop.
Although titanium lacks the weight and intrinsic value of gold or platinum—metals traditionally used to create high jewelry—some of the most avant-garde designers in the world of contemporary jewelry favor titanium.
Influential jewelry artist Joel Arthur Rosenthal (JAR), for example, introduced the metal to the world in 1987 when he created a mauve bracelet adorned with tendrils of flowers set with titanium gemstones:
This piece, the Mughal Flower Bracelet, conjures up vibrant images of India and the rich, passionate colors found in its patterns and motifs. Luscious buds and flowers of intense colors rise from the surface, threatening to wrap around the wearer's wrist and envelop it in floral sensuality rather than simply taming it within the confines of metal. Space-age oxidized titanium is wild and wild, seducing the eye with ever-changing shades of metallic purple.
The naturally gray metal changes color when anodized and continues to form an oxide layer with each electrical charge, producing an optical phenomenon similar to the iridescent sheen of peacock feathers, butterfly wings and soap bubbles.
You can get shiny metallic colors such as navy blue, cognac, brown, green or pink so that the color of the gemstones you are working with does not interrupt.
says London jeweler Glenn Spiro of G jewelry
A striking example is a butterfly with a black opal and a scattering of precious stones in a titanium frame from Lee Jewelery, the stones are held in place thanks to the tension and strength of titanium:
Hong Kong-based jewelry designer Wallace Chan loves working with titanium because, as he says, “it is hard, light, durable, environmentally friendly and colorful.”
Titanium is “a very stubborn metal,” he adds. “He is not easy to tame. When you bend it, it comes back.” Chan says it took him eight years of independent research to master the titanium technology.
“With titanium, the impossible becomes possible,” says Chan.
Jewelers are increasingly using titanium in their products.
In its new Maiolica collection, Italian jeweler Chantecler has set diamonds, blue sapphires, turquoise and cacholong on gold and titanium to create a unique look:
Of the Russian jewelers who actively use titanium in their work, Vladimir Markin especially stands out; his lilac has become a sensation in the jewelry world and a favorite of many women:
A witty and magnificent creation of a jeweler - a bow:
Romantic leaf:
And cute bells, blue like the night southern sky:
