Editor’s Note
This article highlights how heritage craftsmanship and modern innovation converge at Maison Tournaire. As the house marks its 50th anniversary, we explore its journey from traditional lost-wax casting to embracing technologies like 3D printing, all while maintaining the artistic vision and skilled handwork that define its legacy.
In June, the Tournaire jewelry house celebrated its 50th anniversary at its boutique on Place Vendôme in Paris. On display were jewels created by its artistic director, Mathieu Tournaire, inspired by his travels. They were crafted in the workshops of Montbrison (Loire) following the tradition of this family house. This tradition is built on the excellence and dedication of its artisans trained in in-house techniques, as well as the early adoption of technological tools to complement their work.
New York’s verticality, the delicate curve of a Chinese pagoda… The “Architecture” rings have become the signature of the Tournaire jewelry house, founded 50 years ago in Montbrison (Loire) by Philippe Tournaire. The singular appearance of these rings is the fruit of the creativity of Mathieu Tournaire, the company’s president and artistic director, son of Philippe. The creation of these complex jewels illustrates the unique approach of this house since its inception: the creativity of the father, and now his son, is not limited to the artistic domain but extends to the technical realm.
Thus, like most Tournaire jewels, the “Architecture” rings are made using 3D printing technology, a contemporary version of the millennia-old lost-wax casting technique. A 3D designer converts Mathieu Tournaire’s drawing into a 3D model. Based on this, the 3D printer generates the wax form. Placed in plaster that hardens, this wax is then melted away. The resulting plaster mold is ready to receive the molten metal (such as gold or silver).
By equipping itself with a 3D printer as early as 1997, Maison Tournaire was a pioneer in adopting this technique. At the time, hardly anyone outside the medical sector was interested in the arrival of these tools on the market… For about fifteen years, the jewelry house has also acquired a 3D scanner. The tool converts a physical object into a digital format, which then allows for 3D printing at the desired scale.
Curious and passionate about novelties, he continues to visit trade shows with his teams – VincenzaOro in Italy, the 3D Print show in Lyon – in search of promising innovations. Like these new 3D printers that generate shapes directly in gold…
While technologies bring efficiency, “jewelry making is a craft of gesture. And the gesture itself does not evolve,” adds Mathieu Tournaire, who remains faithful to paper and pencil to capture his inspiration. In Montbrison, in the workshops – the foundry is separate – where about fifteen artisans work, the skills are timeless: 3D designer has been added to founder, wax modeler, jeweler, gem setter, gemmologist, assembler…
Mélanie Girard, a jeweler, uses tools that resemble DIY tools, “only smaller” (pliers, mini-saw, files…), to carry out the polishing stage where the raw metal from the mold acquires its shine. New techniques (electrochemistry) exist, but Maison Tournaire sticks to the artisan’s gesture, the only one capable of achieving the level of precision required by the sophistication of its jewels.