The Palaeolove Project

Mission Statement & Product Policy

Company Guidelines

We promote the dissemination of organismic biological knowledge on fossil and recent taxa, traditional and new handicraft as well as fair trade and humane labour conditions.
Our goods and product packagings are manufactured respectively acquired in Switzerland and Europe. This applies to our entire value chain.
We pay fair prices to our partners and suppliers because we want that they can make a living from their work and have the financial capacity to develop their businesses.
We prefer regional traditional manufactures with full or predominant manual operation.
We favour analogously and digitally handcrafted products.
As basis for our goods we use natural and fair traded raw materials where possible.
From ourselves we expect artwork (illustrations, objects) and art wares / handmades of daily use with first-grade design.
From our partners and suppliers we await that our items are carefully processed and of high-quality.
We support environmentally friendly and sustainable manufacturing.
Finally: social, ethical and ecological standards are generally important for us and thoroughly respected.

3D Models

Our modern and historic detailed scientific 3D models in museum quality rest upon manually built archetypes and are first of all digitally handcrafted. After high-resolution scanning or image capturing by computerised tomography of the originals the data are carefully revised and processed by skilled experts in reverse engineering. The additive manufacturing of the model copies are performed on high-end 3D printers of industrial grade by using the SLS technology (SLS = Selective Laser Sintering). The not insubstantial production costs of 3D printings, which determine the prices of our raw models, depend primarily on three parameters: occupied machine space, processing time and consumed raw material. Afterwards coating and finishing of the model copies are done manually and are hence time-consuming.

Please note: the 3D print material (Polyamide, PA) of our detailed scientific models is dishwasher safe and heat-proof to 80℃ / 176℉ and therefore sturdy and durable. Their hand-colouration including pastels is protected by a clear acrylic UV varnish. If the models are displayed in a habitable space it is guaranteed that they are enjoyable for a long time.

Ceramics

Our ceramic goods are one hundred percent handmade from preparing the moulds through shaping and firing to the completion of the articles. Also all illustrations and information are manually attached to the products. Our ceramics are equally suitable for left-handed and right-handed people.

Please note: our ceramics are dishwasher and microwave suitable (beware of hot surfaces).

Jewellery

Our jewellery is digitally and analogously handcrafted. The pieces are computer-aided designed with a 3D modeling software and created with a lost-wax casting process using a high-resolution industrial 3D printer. The casting routine is a complex muli-step process. First a virtual layout of the piece of jewellery is printed in wax. With the wax model a mould is prepared using liquid plaster. After the plaster sets, the wax is melted out and the remaining plaster becomes the definitive mould for receiving the desired melted metal (brass, bronze, silver, gold, platinum etc.). The plaster is then broken away to reveal the metall, and the product is carefully cleaned and maybe polished. In the cases of the solid jewellery items the manufacturing process is now completed. If the solid metal is used as a core and subsequently plated with a precious metal, first a layer of palladium is applied to provide strength and durability. Then the precious metal plating (rhodium or gold) is attached and the item is hand-polished to a mild shiny touch. Finally, findings (German: Furnituren) like needles or loops are added if necessary.

Please note: our jewellery is nickel-free, cadmium-free and lead-free.