By Kirk Richardson, ATI Wah Chang
It wasn't long ago that most people primarily associated titanium with aerospace, medical, golf, or industrial applications; either that or they had never heard of the metal at all. Play a word association game with someone other than a metallurgist or an engineer, throw out the name "titanium", and you might just get a blank stare.
My how a little bit of time changes things: today titanium is so popular that its name is on everything from plastic credit cards to high end watches. Though demand for titanium is skyrocketing, and its price per pound is tagging along, innovators are not shying away from trying the lightweight, high strength metal in new applications.
The name titanium comes via the Titans of Greek mythology, known for their extreme and superior strength, an attribute the metal shares. Titanium belongs to a category of elements known as refractory metals.
One of the more outstanding characteristics of these materials lies in the refractive properties inherent to their oxides. By applying heat or electricity, one may unleash its refractive properties, inducing various oxide thicknesses on the material surface. According to artisans, “the resulting titanium oxide causes an optical interference with a purity and vivacity much the same as witnessed in the luminescent colors of oil on water, a peacock's feather, or a rainbow.” It’s an element that’s helped take technology to the depths of the ocean, the far reaches of the solar system and has elevated capabilities in medicine, industry and science. Some believe that titanium has positively and diversely impacted mankind more than any single element in history.
Edward Rosenberg is one such believer. Founder and President of Spectore Corporation, Rosenberg has managed a rare feat. He has captured jewelry industry market share, taking shelf and cyber space from other precious metals sold in brick and mortar stores as well as online. Spectore’s Black-Ti™, part of the company’s Edward Mirell line, and gray titanium jewelry have gone mainstream, pushed its way on to the fingers, necks, and wrists of men and women around the world.
Rosenberg’s passion for anything titanium combined with his frustration over an industry that he says had grown stale and complacent, drove his desire to introduce a new noble element into fine jewelry manufacturing. “Titanium is more than another material; it is an entirely new and exciting category,” he explains. According to his web site, spectore.com, “titanium would become the first such element to define an entirely new category of fine jewelry material in almost 3,000 years.”
The truth of the matter is, Rosenberg didn’t just stumble on the idea. Jewelry is in his lineage. “My family has been in the jewelry business since the early 1900s,” says the 3rd generation jeweler/entrepreneur.
In 1983, Rosenberg conceived Spectore, the masterpiece he had always imagined creating. “Our sole focus was and continues in the development of the artistic properties unique to titanium,” he says.
Embracing the idea of turning titanium mill products into jewelry on a mass-market scale is one thing; turning the idea into a real, marketable product is something altogether different and exponentially more difficult. Many have dabbled in the business, and some still manufacture product out of their basements. In contrast, Spectore operates out of a 36,000 ft2 facility in Deerfield, Florida that is home to Rosenberg’s scientists and artists as well as millions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art equipment.
Spectore specifies a few different alloys for its products. “For our gray products, we use CP Grade 2 titanium,” says Rosenberg. “It offers the best balance of purity and hardness. It also offers the jeweler the ability to engrave and cut off rings with conventional jewelry tools. Grade 2 also works best with a broad variety of finishes and works well in machining, forming, stamping, casting, and striking. Our Black-Ti™ line is an alloy that, by nature of process, forms an extremely hard black ceramic finish yet maintains sufficient ductility to allow for tension setting (as does the CP).
The optimistic entrepreneur sees a lustrous future for titanium jewelry. “I believe that the possibilities alone and in combination with other stones and materials are as infinite as our imagination,” he says. “I don’t believe we have scratched the surface of possibilities in product applications in and outside of jewelry and accessories.
For more information about Spectore’s titanium jewelry, visit www.spectore.com.