[Success story] Fournier revolutionises "traditional" jewellery with Gravotech
Bijouterie Fournier
Jewellery manufacturing and custom creations
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| Bijouterie Fournier is a family business that has been perpetuating its expertise for over five generations. Specialising in the manufacturing of jewellery, it has adapted to current trends by offering increasingly complex and unique creations. Find out how Anthony Fournier has taken on the challenge of personalisation to offer his customers jewellery that truly reflects who they are. |
| Key facts | |
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| Company launch | 1830 |
| Head office | Vienne, France |
| Staff | 6 employees |
| Gravotech machines in use today | WeLase™ laser station |
| Working with Gravotech since | 2023 |
The jeweller's craft requires a unique expertise that involves setting precious stones on metal frameworks, such as gold, silver or platinum. Jewellers are also responsible for repairing, transforming, and restoring jewellery, or even creating new pieces.
Since its creation, Fournier Jewellers has perpetuated the tradition of handcrafted jewellery:
- design;
- jewellery creation;
- hand engraving;
- repairing broken parts...
This craft requires great precision, a unique technique, and personalisation to meet the expectations of customers, who often come with an idea, an image, or a particular request.
The Fournier jewellery challenge
Growing demand for custom jewellery
In recent years, the demand for custom jewellery has been growing steadily. Customers are looking for unique, personalised creations that meet their tastes and desires.
To meet this growing demand, Fournier Jewellers has had to adapt and offer:
- fashionable designs;
- small, complex designs;
- laser-engraved contrasts.
With religious motifs less in demand, the jeweller has to offer new designs or adapt to specific customer requests. The ability to cut shapes or letters on a multitude of precious materials from 0.5 mm to 1 mm thick is also essential.
Do you face similar challenges?
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"Even though our jeweller is extremely talented, we needed a way to support the growing needs of custom manufacturing. That's why we turned to Gravotech: we needed a machine for engraving and cutting."
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Gravotech's solution: the WeLase™ laser station
To meet the demand for custom jewellery and intricate personalised designs, Fournier Jewellers has invested in a laser engraving and cutting machine. It allows them to save time on designs while providing optimal precision and quality.
Machine selection
Having already heard about Gravotech in trade magazines and at events, he called in a Gravotech sales representative to discuss his needs and make an informed choice of the machine best suited to his jewellery design and manufacturing projects.
After defining specifications in collaboration with a Gravotech expert, the choice fell on a WeLase™ Fibre laser station. The Fournier jewellery store received the machine in January 2024 and benefited from a day's training to enable the jeweller to use the machine independently.
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"The choice of WeLase fiber 30W technology guarantees an ideal product that meets the specific requirements of jewellers, offering optimum performance in line with the sector's high standards of quality and reliability."
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Focus on WeLase™
The WeLase™ Fiber is the ideal machine to meet Fournier Jewellers' growing needs for custom jewellery creation, combining precision, quality and silence for an optimal working environment.
- The machine specialises in the processing of precious metals, such as gold and silver.
- It can cut up to 1 mm thick, engrave and make deep markings.
- The machine is particularly quiet, which is important when working in a jeweller's shop.
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"We needed an intermediate machine between engraving and cutting. Based on our needs, we were guided and we turned quite naturally to the WeLase™ Fibre."
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Increased productivity and creativity
A time saver for jewellery design
The WeLase™ Fibre machine allows Fournier Jewellers to offer a wide variety of custom jewellery designs, saving considerable time in jewellery design and repair. It offers optimal personalisation, with intricate designs and a wide variety of precious materials.
Customers can receive their personalised jewellery in less than a week, and have it repaired in 5 to 10 minutes.
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"We offer trees of life on medals: a tree with or without roots, with or without leaves, in yellow/white gold or silver, with any diameter you like... It's tailor-made."
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An infinite number of patterns at your fingertips
The WeLase™ Fibre machine can cut small initials on a multitude of materials from 0.5 mm to 1 mm thick.
And thanks to the Gravostyle™ software, jewellers can respond to multiple customer requests in terms of patterns. It lets you engrave or cut out letters, create patterns from other design software (Adobe suite) and send them to the machine. It is also possible to create vectorised designs with great detail.
Need more info about our jewellery solutions?
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" The machine makes it possible to create patterns on jewellery that would be more complicated and time-consuming to do by hand, especially for very small engravings. The result is quite incredible!"
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Towards the creation of a new jewellery brand: Octogram
The idea of creating their own jewellery brand emerged with their jeweller. They noticed a need on the part of customers to make jewellery with an emotional connection. The Octogram brand was born.
After several tests, the designers decided to take a piece of jewellery in the shape of a coin divided into 8 compartments, and personalise it with designs chosen by customers.
The aim was to engrave elements linked to family, children, events and passions.
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"I think what people appreciate is the uniqueness of the jewellery. No two people will ever own the same piece!"
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Creative expansion and innovation on the horizon
The adoption of the WeLase™ Fibre machine has revolutionised jewellery creation, enabling the design of complex patterns while optimising production time.
In a move to expand creatively, Fournier Jewellers now plans to master 3D creation software to present high-definition renderings to its customers.
Thanks to this innovation, the jeweller will be able to offer a wide range of personalised designs, responding to the growing demand for unique creations. The launch of the Octogram brand testifies to this evolution, with a focus on personalised, emotionally-charged jewellery designed to celebrate unique moments and relationships.
If you are a designer and would like to offer in-store manufacturing, ask the Gravotech experts to assist you.
Would you also like to offer your customers personalised jewellery?
