Way back in June, during the JCK Las Vegas show, I met up with Benny Oeyen, executive head of market development for PGMs (platinum group metals) at Anglo American. It was a Saturday morning and, to be honest, I was a little shaky (the night before had been rowdier, and later, than expected).
Ostensibly, we were there to talk about a new product that PGI was promoting. But Oeyen caught me off guard with his opening gambit.
“Platinum in jewelry—it’s like a marriage,” he said. “The perfect husband or wife doesn’t exist. There are small little things that get on your nerves, right? And platinum is the same way. We love platinum. It holds a diamond, it’s eternal, and the brightness.
“But there are certain things which are not nice for platinum, and for jewelers even less nice. For example, it’s very difficult to work with. It wears out the tools. People go, ‘Ah, platinum. If it could only be like white gold, but still be platinum.’ So we set out to create not the perfect husband or wife, but the perfect platinum.”
That’s when Oeyen got to the point: Inoveo, a new platinum alloy that’s 40% harder than standard platinum alloys, was now available in the marketplace.
“Jewelry is 95% platinum, as you know, and 5% other stuff,” he said. “And it’s in the other stuff where the magic is.”
Inoveo, Oeyen went on to say, is “everything you love about platinum without all the bad stuff.”
Developed by Anglo American and materials designer and developer Alloyed, Inoveo was specifically designed to mirror the workability of white gold, while simultaneously doubling down on all the core properties that distinguish platinum, including its naturally white color, durability, and wear resistance. Oeyen laughed when he noted that Inoveo’s “5% secret sauce is like the Coca-Cola formula.” If he told me, he’d have to kill me.
“We think this could be a game changer,” he concluded. “And now I’m going to stop because I’m a real salesman.”
I had to admit, I was sold. So, too, apparently, was Stuller. At the JCK show, PGI announced that the Lafayette, La.–based mega-supplier would be Inoveo’s exclusive supplier.
As we finished up our conversation, Jenny Luker, PGI USA’s president, emphasized Inoveo’s winning properties. “The end product will be whiter and brighter, it will be more wear-resistant, even more so than current platinum alloys. And I think the opportunity is really with the manufacturers,” she said. “It’s more efficient in machining. It’s more efficient in polishing. It’s more efficient in setting. And again, it has all of the benefits of platinum, but it’s easier and works more like gold.”
Sounds pretty perfect to me!
Top: Inoveo Platinum grain (all photos courtesy of PGI)
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