GDANSK: Long coveted for its golden color, scientific value and alleged healing properties, young Polish jewelers are transforming ancient amber into trendy pieces for the contemporary consumer.
Designers working with the translucent fossil are combining traditional tools like drills, sanders, blasters and power saws with state-of-the-art technology at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, a city on Poland’s Baltic Coast known as the global amber capital.
In virtual reality studios, students use their screens to silently assemble objects that spin, whirl and twist, and may one day become a new generation of prized jewelery.
“From the very start, we learn the complete processes (of design), how to apply our creativity to them, how to use diverse technologies,” student Martyna Golinska, 26, said.
She is particularly drawn to the CNC numerical milling technique, most often used in the aerospace, automotive and medical industries.
For fellow student Paulina Smigiel, the challenge in these simulations is to translate one’s artistic vision into the language of numbers a machine can understand.
“If we succeed,” she said, “no other mechanical intervention is necessary.”
This is how rings, necklaces, bracelets, masks, tiaras and more are brought to life: made from or adorned with amber dipped into or wreathed in gold, silver or titanium.
