The Wonder Metal: How Titanium Allows Jewelry Designers to Fully Realize Their Artistic Visions

It seems almost too good to be true. An affordable metal that is as strong as steel, lightweight, impervious to everyday chemicals, tarnish resistant, hypoallergenic, and can be made to be almost any color imaginable. At the Couture Show in Las Vegas, titanium was everywhere. For many artists, it is the secret ingredient that allows them to fully realize designs that simply can't be fabricated using traditional silver, gold, or platinum metals.

Titanium was first identified in 1791 by Willian Gregor in Cornwall, Great Britain in the form of black sand which also included dark iron oxides. Several years later in 1795, Martin Heinrich Klaproth found another source of titanium in Hungary, recognized its strength, and named the durable metal after the powerful Titans of Greek mythology. It turned out that titanium was not rare. Quite the contrary, it is the ninth most common element in the Earth's crust.

While there is a lot of titanium out there, it is notoriously difficult to extract. It was only in 1910 that scientists figured out how to purify the element. It would be another two decades until a procedure developed by William Justin Kroll allowed titanium to be used on a wide scale. Eight years after debuting his purification method, Kroll updated the protocol in 1938 to what is now known as the Kroll process. To this day, the Kroll process, a laborious and expensive technique, is the formula used most often to purify the metal. 

Titanium jewelry was first introduced recently in the 1990s, but no one really knows who came up with the idea. Regardless of who did it first, the benefits of using titanium were quickly recognized in the industry, and usage of the metal skyrocketed. The titanium metal used in jewelry is not pure. Rather, it is alloyed with some combination of aluminum, vanadium, iron, oxygen, and tin. The resulting alloys are even stronger than pure titanium. 

Saboo is a multi-generational jewelry business represented by Rock House. Pranay Saboo, who currently designs for his family's line, explained that they have been using titanium for twenty years and consider themselves specialists. They have developed an electric plating vapor deposition (EPVD) technique that allows them to color the metal 45 distinct shades. They love that the low density of the metal allows them to create bold pieces that are wearable.  

Many of the artists at Couture who use titanium love that the versatility of the metal allows them to construct almost anything. Thanks to this flexibility, many are proud to work with their clients to make elaborate custom designs. 

Victoria Yu, the Chinese designer behind Joywith Jewelry, said that it is important to her that her business is client-driven - "I want to meet the client's needs and make them one hundred percent happy. My pieces are meant to be wearable." Every item she designs is one-of-a-kind. While her work is primarily titanium set with gemstones, she also sometimes includes 18K gold. 

For Sicis Jewels, titanium is the secret ingredient that allows them to produce large jewelry that features their signature micro-mosaic technique. "The DNA of our company is the micro-mosaics. We manufacture the glass and settings in-house… Titanium can do things other metals can't. It gives dimension, and is very light. Whereas gold is heavy."

For Richard Wu of Richard Wu Art Jewelry, titanium gives him the freedom to create highly intellectual designs that encourage people to examine how we treat the natural world. On Mr. Wu's website, you will find the quote "Nothing is art if it does not come from nature." On display at the show was a haunting piece depicting a butterfly torn apart on a surgeon's table. This, he explained, shows that modern society appreciates the beauty of the world, but tears it apart in its efforts to capture and possess it. Mr. Wu stated, "I would like to preserve rather than destroy".

Mr. Wu has worked with titanium since 2020 and firmly believes that it belongs in the same class as traditional precious metals. Accordingly, his work unapologetically features titanium set alongside gold.

Even though jewelers have been creating with titanium for decades, especially creative artists continue to find new ways to use the revolutionary metal. Mattia Cielo of Mattia Cielo is one such innovator. He expressed that this goal "is making jewelry as soft as cashmere. Comfortable. Light. Wearable." Rather than making something static, Mr. Cielo manipulates titanium so that it becomes more fluid than solid. "It's important to explain that the titanium is only a very little part of the piece, less than 2% in order to give flexibility to the jewel, the very thin wire is wrapped with gold using a very innovative technique and the highest level of Italian craft," said Cielo.

A Mattia Cielo titanium coil with 18K yellow gold and diamonds.

The introduction of titanium in the jewelry world was, undoubtedly, a game changer. The inherent lightness of the metal lets artists create large-scale items that would be too heavy to be wearable if the traditional precious metals were used. Unlike gold, silver, and platinum, titanium can easily be made to be almost any color imaginable. Even better, it doesn't fade and can be worn by anyone because it does not cause an allergic reaction. How would you use it?