ADVERTORIAL 22 | JNA January/February 2023 PGI Director of Innovation and Product Development (IPD) Tai Wong talks about the key programmes undertaken by his team to facilitate the development of new technology, inspire design innovation and help the trade to enhance their expertise with platinum. What are your main objectives? PGI China’s objective is to help our partners tap into growth areas in jewellery. In China, these are branded collections, young consumers and new channels, particularly beyond the bridal segment where platinum is the preferred metal by consumers. Unlocking these growth opportunities fundamentally requires products that would appeal to new consumer segments. The IPD function drives greater design possibilities by empowering our partners through education, consulting and collaboration. Under IPD’s influence, there has been more development in platinum products, particularly those targeting young consumers, in the last five years than in the past decade. How are you engaging the trade on platinum tech and design? In our content programme, Platinum ABC®, platinum experts and jewellers impart their knowledge to the trade for greater manufacturing efficiencies and product innovation. The videos can be viewed on YouTube. These were also translated and posted on our WeChat trade official account for the benefit of our China-based partners. The 2022 goal was to create content by uploading one video per week. As of December, we have more than 80 videos garnering some 16,000+ views. The goal for 2023 is to build an online community and bring our platinum experts, designers and other stakeholders together in our social media channels. We will reach out to international companies that are making substantial strides in platinum technology, production or jewellery retail and highlight their achievements for the trade’s benefit. (https://youtube.com/@platinumABC) Why is alloy researchmost important for platinum innovation? Platinum is traditionally deemed too soft for certain manufacturing processes. The China market generally uses 95 per cent platinum and 5 per cent copper or palladium, but this cannot yield fineness akin to the lower saturation 18-karat gold. PGI thus focused on developing harder alloys with the trade to create a level playing field with alloys of other preciousmetals. For the past three years, we introduced and tested new heat-treatable alloys with gallium (Ga) while the trade used indium (In), which brought hardness up to 130-150Hv and even up to over 200Hv after heat treatment. Harder platinum allows more design possibilities such as finer chains, open shapes, more intricate cross-sections, super-hollow elements, new semi-finished products, and more stable gem-setting, among others. It shortens polishing time, improves CNC and engraving, eliminates deformities through stronger settings, reduces production wastage, accommodates complex processes and produces a different shine. Moving forward, we are going to look into amorphous metal or bulk metallic glass, which will deliver unprecedented platinum attributes, including high elasticity, super high strength and ultra-high hardness at 500+ Hv. What newmanufacturing processes are available for platinum? Electroforming is changing the game for design, with manufacturers producing lighter platinum chains and bracelets of under 10 to 15 grams. 3D printing is also promising since platinum has low light reflectivity and low heat conductivity. 3D-printed platinum items also have twice the yield strength of casted pieces. PGI is working to help develop more sources of platinum powder, which is currently PGI’s product innovation programmes anchor its efforts to stimulate jewellery industry growth Platinum Guild International is tapping opportunities in the jewellery sector by making platinum the premier innovator in the industry. 国际铂金协会(PGI®)正在推动铂金成为珠宝业的首要创新元素，并缔造其在珠宝领域的机遇。 国际铂金协会(PGI®)推出产品创新计划，为促进珠宝行业增长而努力
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