Our Production Process
Icarus Originals Ltd is a premium jewellery and gift business that combines the latest in hi-tech manufacturing with the best of traditional British craftsmanship. Through our range of precision crafted metal products, we celebrate iconic feats of design and engineering from the UK and around the globe.
What makes us special is that we manufacture products using melted-down metal from the very object we seek to commemorate. This ensures we can offer something truly unique – a precision-engineered casting that captures a small piece of history. Our current flagship release – a finalist for Gift of the Year 2019 – was a beautiful 3D rendering of the legendary Tornado jet, cast in polished aluminium sourced from the aircraft itself.
We are proud to work with the professionals who fly, crew and drive the real-life inspirations for our designs. Our manufacturing process combines advanced 3D scanning, exhaustive technical research and high-resolution 3D printing. We combine this cutting edge technology with the traditional skills and craftsmanship of the British jewellery industry to ensure we can offer the most detailed and authentic products.
So what’s the process?
1. Icon parts are rescued or donated to us, stripped of paint and cut up by hand into pieces no bigger than 4cm x 4cm ready for melting. 
2. The 3D CAD file is made using the blueprints of the icon. 
3. The model is displayed as a mesh and consists of thousands of points. 
4. A full sized 1:72 3D replica is printed for checking. 
5. The CAD render is modified to incorporate a single piece stem for cufflinks, or a cylinder on the underside for bracelets. 
6. The aluminium is melted down and poured into the wax moulds. 
7. The wax is removed from the aluminium revealing the castings on a ‘tree’. 
8. Master Jewellers remove the items from the tree and hand-craft each piece ready to be finished and then polished. 
9. Each piece is carefully hand finished, keeping as much detail as possible. 
10. Once finished, the pieces are hand polished to a high shine, being careful not to lose any detail. 
11. Items are meticulously inspected for faults or defects and discarded if they don’t meet our quality expectations. 
12. The finished product is sent back to us for packaging and distribution!