We decided to get a drink at a trailer park themed dive bar. In folding chairs over frozen margaritas, one of my best friends of the past 20 years told me about the love of his life and I told him about the 4Cs. The illuminated pink flamingo over our table cast a glow of excitement over Mini (a nickname Sam acquired from me at the age of 10). This was better than take your child to work day! One of my best friends was learning about what I do and his enthusiasm was far from m

Every time I am asked to create an engagement ring, I feel an incredible flood of excitement. It is an honor and privilege to be asked to be involved in the moment two people commit to each other. As a single New York female, I am always amazed and in awe when I see two people come to a point where they want to declare their relationship to the world. With every couple, it moves me in ways that are hard to express, but no ring creation hit me quite as hard as the ring that w

According to New SmarTech Publishing Report, annual revenues from Additive Manufacturing in Jewelry are expected to top $900 million in 2026. That is a significant figure that shows a tremendous shift in the appreciation and use of CAD. Digital technologies have been adopted into the jewelry production workflow. We see its use at almost every stage of realizing a finished product due in large part to the fact that Additive Manufacturing can produce products in a wide range of

I am very excited to announce a partnership with the GetRealLuxury Blog. Check out a guest blog I wrote called, "CUSTOMIZABLE JEWELRY: THE NEW LUXURY STORY" to learn about my take on millennial luxury trends and the jewelry industry's ability to satisfy millennials with custom made CAD jewelry. Read it HERE. #CADCAM #JewelryIndustry #CAD #AdditiveManufacturing #design #3Dprinting #jewelry #originaleve

It is an exciting time to be a creator. CAD accessibility is increasing at exponential rates. Today, technology in every part of our lives is unavoidable. We can communicate face-to-face within seconds with friends and family on the other side of the planet. Before we get home from work, we can increase or decrease the temperature of our homes. We don’t need to worry about the safety of our children when we can watch our babysitter interact with our kids from the middle of ou

It is a wide misconception that CAD-CAM is a newly introduced aspect of the jewelry industry. In fact, CAD has been used by jewelers and jewelry artists since the 1980s. The reason that we are hearing so much about CAD today is not only because the speed and technology have improved significantly since the ‘80s, but, more importantly, the social acceptance of the technology is on the rise. It is not unusual to face a bit of resistance when we start using what is considered a

In the jewelry industry, we hear a lot about using CAD as a tool—It increases efficiencies, allowing for pieces to be produced quickly and with less material waste. But to think of CAD as only a tool, is short-sited, as this medium is a language unto itself and a vehicle for creativity unlike anything we have seen before. CAD affords artists new paths for exploring how they see the world and for telling their stories. Madeline Gannon is one of the co-founders of AtonAton, a c

I am so humbled and excited to have been included in this article in Women's Wear Daily (WWD) on CAD and Additive Manufacturing in the Jewelry Industry! Thank you, @WWD for writing this article and including some of my thoughts on the subject! :) Link to the article HERE #CADCAM #CAD #design #3Dprinting #jewelry #originaleve #WWD #WWD #MediaMention #AdditiveManufacturing

Throughout graduate school, I was creating intricate, complicated pieces that required so much memory to make, it was common for my screen to flash green, my computer to freeze into patterns of color and psychedelic shapes, and magical “ghost” surfaces to appear, haunting my forms with reminders of the programs inability to realize my vision. I only needed to type "M-C" the first two letters of Rhino’s creator’s name into the email field for the rest of his name to appear. I

I am excited to begin the deep-dive into exploring CAD-CAM here on the blog. Let’s start with some basics! What is CAD-CAM? CAD is computer-aid design. This can really mean any computer program that helps you make a thing from Word with templates that helps you create a document to programs that we usually associate with CAD, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and model making programs, like Rhino, that help us make three-dimensional objects. I have a Master’s in Fine

Happy Valentine's Day! Since today is the day for passion and love, it only makes sense to turn the blog to a subject about which I am incredibly passionate: CAD being considered MORE than a tool. Two weeks ago during the 2017 Tucson Gem Show, I participated in an event called The Passion Project, hosted at JCK by GenNext, WJA, and The Smithee Group. This event consisted of a series of fast-paced presentations by members of the jewelry industry, aimed to introduce an audience

When I had just finished my Graduate Gemology degree at the Gemological Institute of America, a prominent man within the industry took me aside and warned me that while starting my career, I should never be in a place where I am the smartest person in the room. This is the advice that landed him the job as my mentor. Not too long after finishing at GIA, I got an incredible opportunity to work at Tiffany. Work as a trainer came in waves of rushing and working diligently as new

"To not dare is to have already lost. We should seek out ambitious, even unrealistic projects... Because things only happen when we dream." -Andree Putman Several months ago, a good friend gave me a bottle of champagne. Since then, there have been numerous opportunities to celebrate: A birthday, a new job, a successful tomato harvest after months of blossom rot… Despite all of the good, something prevented me from opening the bottle until three weeks ago. The bottle was opene