Titanium has been used by JAR, the Paris maison founded by Joel Arthur Rosenthal in 1977, as a structural and aesthetic material in selected pieces from the late 1990s onward. The maison's adoption of titanium was a significant moment in the broader acceptance of non-precious metals in haute joaillerie and prefigured the wider use of the material by independent jewellers including Wallace Chan in Hong Kong and others.

Properties

Titanium has roughly half the density of platinum and a substantially lower density than gold or silver, and it is far stronger by weight than any of the precious metals. These properties make it possible to construct very large jewels that nevertheless remain comfortable to wear, an important consideration for the major brooches, ear clips and head ornaments JAR has commissioned in the form. Titanium also patinates and anodises in a wide range of colours through electrochemical treatment, with deep blues, purples and dark greys all achievable, although JAR most often uses titanium in blackened or anodised dark form to match the maison's standard mounting palette.

Titanium is, however, considerably harder than the precious metals to work with at bench scale. It cannot be soldered with conventional gold solders, requiring laser welding for joints; it does not take pavé setting in quite the same way; and it is more susceptible to surface scratching once finished. The maison's bench team developed working methods to address these constraints over a number of years.

Use at JAR

Titanium has been used at JAR principally for two purposes. The first is structural, where the lightness of titanium allows the construction of large brooches and ear clips that would be uncomfortably heavy in silver or gold. The second is aesthetic, where the dark anodised surface contributes directly to the maison's commitment to invisible mountings.

JAR titanium pieces include a number of large butterfly and flower brooches, several head ornaments and tiaras, and selected ear clips. Documented examples have been included in the Metropolitan Museum's 2013 retrospective Jewels by JAR and have appeared at Christie's and Sotheby's auctions. Each piece is unique.

Influence

The JAR adoption of titanium contributed substantially to the broader acceptance of non-precious metals in haute joaillerie. Wallace Chan, working independently in Hong Kong, has built much of his celebrated body of titanium jewellery from the early 2000s onward; the Munich house Hemmerle works extensively in patinated copper, bronze and iron in a related sensibility. The wider trade has accepted, partly under JAR's example, that the right metal for a piece is the one that achieves the visual and functional effect, regardless of its conventional rank in the precious-metal hierarchy.