Tanel Veenre Green Leap
Tanel Veenre’s jewellery has gone through an important green leap. Our long-term goal of making the entire production process better and more transparent reached an important milestone in 2020. In collaboration with 3D printing company Cloud Factory, we only use ethical silver and keep the entire production chain clean and caring. Read more about how Taavi Kikas, CEO and visionary of Cloud Factory, sees the future.
Marek, Kati and Taavi fulfill their silver dreams.
In 2012, you took part in the Ajujaht show. Tell us more about what was your idea and why did you choose Ajujaht as your starting point?
I actually started my entrepreneurial journey already in 2010, when we were engaged in the development of innovative information technology solutions. We managed to provide a service to the Estonian state by creating secure cloud solutions. One of the first extremely exciting projects was to create an automated mini-laboratory for the biotechnology laboratory and a secure cloud solution for visualizing the results. During the development of this hardware, I came across 3D printing of machine parts for the first time and saw how difficult and expensive it is to handle and own these machines.
It was generally a time when there were a lot of new and exciting ideas, and suddenly I had a total of 8 projects on hand, which we were carrying out with different teams. In 2012, we decided to go to Ajujaht with them. All of our ideas were selected among the top 100, and two of them made it to the finals. It was definitely a memorable experience and in turn, created an avalanche of new ideas. The Ajujaht format is a great test and crash course for successfully establishing a startup.
Which came first: technology or business interest?
I can definitely say that my interest in technology has been my driving force since I was little. I came to entrepreneurship rather naturally to create something new and innovative. I also value being the master of my time and doing things my way more than anything in the world. However, when I already dived into the exciting future world of 3D printing, I realized that this is just my cup of tea. 2013 since then I have mainly been involved in teaching and further development of this technology. 2014 we managed to get an investment from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen with our company 3DPrinterOS and we created the world’s first operating system for 3D printers. Today, the company cooperates with several well-known organizations and companies such as NASA, Harvard University, Google, Bosh and Microsoft and has mediated more than 1.8 million 3D prints. After working only with software for a long time, however, my interest in technology brought me back to physical machines and products.
What is Cloud Factory? If you had to introduce your collective family to an interested stranger.
Cloud Factory is a cool office in the city of Tallinn, which hides a futuristic machine that grows precious jewellery. At almost any time of the day, you can find three great entrepreneurs there who live and breathe the rhythm of this innovative cloud factory and call themselves the goldsmiths of the next generation. Our factory creates unique designs and products for world-famous YouTubers and artists, as well as super-awesome collaboration projects with jewellery and fashion brands both from us and elsewhere.
How did you find your way into jewellery in the world of technology?
This direction also found us step by step and somehow naturally. In 2016, through a mutual acquaintance, I met TV star and skateboarding legend Bam Margera, with whom the first 3D printed jewellery inspired by Bam’s tattoos was born. At that time, I also edited at TalTech’s innovation centre Mektory, where I met Marek, who had been involved in technology development and 3D printing of various metals in TalTech’s research team for many years.
At the same time, we came into contact with Estonian artists through my life partner Kati. Together with these managers, we developed personalized jewellery and discovered the wonderful world of merch.
We gradually gained more customers and soon grew from a research project to a business and were able to acquire our very own metal printer. When the printer was shipped from Germany, we also moved to our own factory rooms, where in 20 days, with the help of the team, family and friends, we built it day and night, at the same time thinking about how the machine costing a quarter of a million is moving towards us in a trailer. I still clearly remember the emotions when the machine finally arrived and it was lifted to the second floor on a forklift. Definitely one of the most stressful minutes of my life. And so we opened our futuristic jewellery factory. And once you dive into this world and these endless design possibilities, you never want to come out.
What makes 925 silver ethical?
In our case, the entire production line is ethical. This means that, of course, we have everything correct in the factory and try to make everyone’s stay as pleasant as possible, but we also source our raw material from an ethical manufacturer in Italy, who is responsible for using as much recycled metal as possible in all production processes. Of course, silver must be obtained from places where other precious metals are mined in particular and silver is collected as a by-product, the mines do not use environmentally harmful explosives, do not affect the quality of groundwater, and the company is responsible for the preservation and sustainability of the flora and fauna of the areas. Also, child labour is not used in the mines and workers are treated ethically and receive decent wages.
In addition to ethics, greenness in the entire process is also very important to us. We produce most jewellery on an order basis, 3D printing directly from metal creates minimal waste material and, compared to conventional production, many times less CO2. All our machine polishing granules are organic and recyclable, and even our certificates and packaging are made from recycled materials. If big dreams come true, in the future we will also open printing points in America and Asia to offer local production, which would allow us to be even more environmentally friendly.
What has been the biggest surprise / unexpected challenge of becoming an entrepreneur in your field?
Perhaps the biggest surprise has been the fact that after more than a decade in 3D printing and various software solutions, I never thought that for a moment I would find myself polishing a silver ring on a jeweller’s bench or scribbling a new piece of jewellery on paper. I am surprised that we are associating something as traditional as the production of jewellery and something as revolutionary as metal 3D printing in our daily activities.
Do you grow organically or do you work purposefully towards a specific dream? What top do you crave to conquer?
Cloud Factory definitely has a plan to go to conquer the high peaks. At the moment, we are the only company in the world that offers mass production of silver jewellery printed directly from metal and finished to the final product. In the coming years, we will also offer gold jewellery and launch our online platform. We soon plan to expand our production across the ocean, closer to our US customers, by opening another inventory-free warehouse, our printing facility, which will hopefully someday be part of our global manufacturing network. We want to make our ethical and sustainable production process the standard for the production of jewellery.
Enjoy jewellery made in Tallinn by an innovative start-up company of talented people. Wear jewellery that adheres to ethical principles throughout the entire process – from production to post packaging.
