Manufacturing zero-waste jewellery

A startup is 3D printing sustainable jewellery for brands and performers to use as unique merchandise

Spotted: Jewellery is not often associated with waste – after all, the idea of leaving valuable gold or silver lying around the shop floor seems absurd. Yet, traditional jewellery making does involve a fair amount of scrap metal waste. This wasted material translates to the need for more mining, with its use of dangerous chemicals, and environmental and social issues.

Tallinn-based Cloud Factory has an answer not only to reducing jewellery-related waste, but also to cost-effective scalable jewellery production. Cloud Factory leverages 3D printing technology and recycled precious metals in the jewellery-making process. The startup is focusing on using its system to help musicians, brands, and celebrities create their own branded jewellery merchandise through a fully managed service that offers concept building, manufacturing, branded packaging, and drop-shipping.

The use of direct metal 3D printing minimises the production cost and time needed to produce quality jewellery at scale. However, not content with its current offering, Cloud Factory is also working to build fully automated on-demand 3D printing hubs at locations around the globe. The company is also launching its first jewellery NFTs to create a bridge between digital and tangible jewellery products.

The company has recently picked up €2 million in funding during a seed round led by Change Ventures, one of the leading early-stage funds in the Baltics.

3D printing is being applied to a growing range of products and structures. Some of the most innovative ideas that Springwise has spotted recently include creating living walls created by 3D printing with soil and a 3D-printed ear made from patients’ own cells.

Written By: Lisa Magloff