3D Modeling, Sustainability and jewelry design. A systematic literature review

Abstract

The research addresses the topic of jewelry design with a view to environmental and social sustainability, relating both to the precious materials used and to the production processes. The study, applying methods and processes of the discipline of drawing, lays the foundations for the analysis of the morphological configurations of crystal lattices, assuming the analogy of these between natural and artificial stones already known since the eighteenth century. These premises on the atomic structure of crystals are fundamental for the definition of the possible cutting processes of both the raw stone produced in the laboratory and for the re-faceting of natural stones, also using of specific modeling software capable to replicate in a digital environment not only the morphology of the faceted stone but also to simulate working phases and processes.

1. Introduction

This study addresses the topic of gemstone drawing with a specific focus on sustainability issues related to the gemological market. In this area, the increasing attention to sustainability principles has directed the use of synthetic gemstones (so-called lab-grown) and the optimization and recutting of existing ones, also with reference to the negative environmental and social fallout associated with the mining and processing of both precious metals and gemstones. Recent studies by Imperial College London (Oluleye, 2021) have in fact quantified the environmental impact related to the mining of precious stones, in different geographical areas, with reference to the increasing values of pollutants emitted into the air, soil or water, as well as highlighting the social impacts in this area mainly related to a lack of protection of workers' human rights (Fig. 01).

Figure 1. Diamond production in the main geographical areas of extraction from 2009 to 2018 (top). Nations with a mining of at least 50000 carats of diamonds/year (bottom). (Source: Oluleye, 2021).

Starting on research conducted by the authors on the topic of gemstone drawing and analog and digital models in the gemological field (Pisacane et al., 2024), this study aims to highlight the sustainability advantages of digital modeling both for geometric-dimensional type analysis and gemological characteristics of existing raw and cut stones, as well as for the conception, design and communication of the finished product (Figs. 02-03).

Figure 2. The crystal form of the di-hexagonal bipyramid. Digital model and stereogram processed in the 3DCrystalRoom software (University of Bari) (top). Digital elaboration by Authors

Figure 3. Digital models of faceted gems processed in Gem Cut Studio software. Elaboration by the Authors.

Not only geometric but also parametric modeling supports all stages of analysis and design. At the atomic scale, it allows, on the one hand, the definition of mineralogical structures in relation to the analogy between natural and synthetic gems to ensure the yield of the latter is perfectly comparable to those obtained on natural stones and, on the other hand, the knowledge of the crystal structure for the cutting of existing gemstones to optimize the use and yield of the precious material. At the scale of the object, it both directs the design choices for determining the desired shape in order to reduce the waste of precious material while maintaining high levels of brilliance, and allows the construction of predictive virtual models for their high verisimilitude with the physical design models in order to simulate the rendering of both the faceted stone and the jewel setting and its aesthetic effect and wearability in relation to the body. In addition, again at the scale of the object, jewelry parametric models foster product knowledge in a virtual environment for both scientific disclosure and commercial purposes. For the former, through the setting up of exhibitions of existing objects, thus avoiding the economic-environmental implications related to their displacement from their places of origin and digital reconstructions of jewelry no longer available, and for the latter, through the promotion of products by making use of collections and displays in the virtual environment.

Starting from these premises, the present study, having assumed the privileged role that models, including parametric models, have in the specific disciplinary field of design, and having extended its centrality also in the sustainability of choices in both the analysis and design phases, proposes a literature review of the most recent studies on the subject to discuss the most original experiments and to orient future studies towards the most innovative scenarios of modeling in a digital environment declined in a sustainable key.

The next two paragraphs discuss the outcomes of the literature review. Specifically, the first paragraph describes the construction of the research model and critically analyzes the geographic distribution of the authors of the studies and the keywords identified; the second paragraph describes the quantitative and qualitative analysis conducted and, having identified thematic categories, delves into the distribution of studies among them.

2. Literature search parameters in the SLR review process and data visualization

A systematic literature review allows for the identification and evaluation of the existing body of knowledge on a specific topic (Fink, 2019) from which to select the most advanced concepts in the field of discussion. The analysis conducted made use of scientific literature data extracted from Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) and Science Direct databases through specific search queries based on keywords appropriately identified in relation to specific subject areas.

The first area concerns the discipline of drawing and its insights into configurational geometries and parametric modeling. The second scope concerns an in-depth study of applications in the gemological field of the first scope. Finally, the third scope limits the first two to sustainability issues. The in-depth scopes were translated into the following search key "(model* OR drawing OR geometry* OR parametric*) AND (gemstone OR gem*olog*) AND Sustainability," as input data entered into the aforementioned scientific databases. The search was extended to all fields, given the specificity of the identified keywords. The search key construction syntax made use of the “AND” operator to ensure contextual searches in the three identified fields. The “OR” operator allowed the different declinations of the words model, drawing, geometry, and parametric to be excluded for the field related to representation. The same operator made it possible to exclude the domain connected with nature and crystal processing, the different declinations of both gemstones, and the disciplines that study them. The transversality of sustainability-related aspects did not require the operator "OR."

These queries aim to identify articles published from 2015 to the present, limiting the search to scientific studies that have addressed the specific topic of sustainability in line with the goals of Agenda 2030. In addition, this time range allows only studies that make use of the latest digital modeling technologies in gemology to be included in the analysis, thus narrowing the scope of the review to literature from the disciplinary field of design. Specific disciplinary interests filtered the search within the fields provided by the scientific databases to only the fields of “Environmental Science, Social Sciences, Engineering, Computer Science, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Mathematics, Arts and Humanities”, thus excluding studies from other fields, such as “Business, Management and Accounting, Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Economics, Econometrics and Finance, Energy, Physics and Astronomy, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology”. An additional filter related to the English language was applied to these queries, given its prevalence in the scientific literature (Fig. 4).

Figure 4. Literature search parameters in the literature review process

The initial focus is on the Scopus database, which produced a total of 436 records, followed by other databases, which produced another 377 articles, including 373 on Science Direct.

Through the VOSviewer application, representative maps of the bibliographic data extracted from the databases were generated. Specifically, the software allows selection of types of analysis and units of analysis from the bibliographic data by returning them in several possible graphical displays. In the specifics of this study, elaborations were conducted with respect to the type of analysis by author and by occurrences. With respect to the type of analysis by author of the papers, the unit of analysis delved into their geographic origin in order to verify their possible connection with the main extraction sites; for the type of analysis related to occurrences, the unit of analysis selected was the keywords identified by the authors in the individual scientific publications to map their recurrence and possible connections with other keywords. Both types of analysis were themed relative to the year of publication.

Figure 5. Authors countries clustering analysis on bibliographic data. Digital elaboration by the Authors in VOSviewer.

Figure 5 shows that among the forty-five countries of origin of the authors, the most significant percentages come from China with eighty-six publications, and India with eighty-five. Significantly lower is the presence of scientific articles in the other countries. Comparing this analysis with the graph in Figure 1 shows the overlap between the countries where most of the studies are conducted and those where there are the main mining sites of precious from which there is a clear scientific sensitivity in the countries where mining is most active.

Figure 6. Keywords clustering analysis on bibliographic data. Digital elaboration by the Authors in VOSviewer

In Figure 6 on the distribution of keywords in the different selected articles, a high percentage of occurrence of the words “sustainability” and “mining”, followed by “blockchain”, “minerals” and “decision making” clearly emerges. Next, a match was made between the keywords in the papers and those selected in this study for the review queries. It is shown on the one hand the absence of those related to the research scope of the specific discipline of representation, on the other hand, the connections between the words “sustainability” and “gemstone” with each other and with the other keywords. The word “gemstone” (Fig. 7), least present as a keyword among the identified articles, shows noteworthy connections to “sustainable development” and “environmental impact” as well as to “blockchain” technology.

Figure 7. Keyword “gemstone” clustering analysis on bibliographic data. Digital elaboration by the Authors in VOSviewer.

Figure 8. Keyword “sustainability” clustering analysis on bibliographic data. Digital elaboration by the Authors in VOSviewer.

The word “sustainability” (Fig. 8) shows obvious connections with those directly related to its various declinations in the social, economic and ecological domains. In addition, its connections to the keywords related to its applications in mineralogy and gemology and its developments in the digital environment further confirm the cross-cutting nature of the study being conducted in the three areas of research, validating the direction of in-depth study initiated with the present study and its subsequent developments.

3. Qualitative and quantitative analysis in the PRISMA research approach

The systematic review of the scientific literature begins with an exploratory survey, which employs both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques, following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodological approach (David, 2023). Quantitative analysis provides a statistical overview of the relevant research papers; in parallel, qualitative analysis categorizes the research papers according to the objectives of sustainable optimization of natural and synthetic gemstone processing in the digital environment through modeling, including parametric modeling in both the analysis and project phases.

The records extracted from the scientific databases were exported to HubMeta tool (Steel, 2023) for the subsequent qualitative-quantitative analysis phase.

The HubMeta online platform provides a valuable support for bibliographic analysis in science by replicating in the digital environment the steps of critical appraisal of scientific literature through a multi-step process that leads to an evaluation and selection of useful articles to answer focal questions.

In this study, the data exported from the scientific databases Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) and Science Direct are related to the “Citation information” and “Abstract & keywords” sections of which all available information is acquired. In total, data were collected for 799 papers, from which through successive screening processes 20 duplicate results were removed, for a total of 779 articles. The HubMeta platform allows for the “Title screening” phase to reject, accept, or defer the possible selection of articles in the subsequent “Full Text screening” phase. The initiation of this operation has set the conditions to train the AI assistant internal to the same platform allowing the selection to continue through the percentage value of relevance of each publication provided from time to time by the AI Comment. Such support streamlined the evaluation processes by reducing the time for product selection.

The next step involved the inclusion or exclusion of literature through the review for each article of the title and abstract. At the conclusion of the evaluation process, 706 products were excluded. Forty-two of the 73 accepted ones are referred to full text evaluation to complete the literature review (Fig. 9). The outcomes of this process are depicted in the block diagram in Fig. 10, which returns data from the “Identification” and “Screening” stages by deferring the “Elegibility” and “Included” stages to later stages of the search.

Figure 9. Report of selected articles after “Title screening” phase. Elaboration by the Authors.

Figure 10. Flowchart of the systematic literature review according to PRISMA research approach. Elaboration by the Authors in HubMeta.

In the period taken as a reference, the quantitative analysis returned a significant increase from the year 2021 onward, confirming also in the scientific field the centrality and topicality of the sustainable approach to this issue, both in theoretical declinations and in applications with the latest digital technologies (Fig. 11).

Figure 11. Percentage of selected articles per year between 2015-2025. Elaboration by the Authors.

Following the quantitative analysis, we moved on to the qualitative analysis of the selected articles by identifying four thematic categories in line with the in-depth focuses. For a more in-depth qualitative investigation, each category was divided into multiple subcategories into which the studies selected in the previous phase fall. The four thematic categories decline the themes of gemmology, promotion, eco-design and innovation from a sustainable perspective (Fig. 12).

Figure 12. Pubblications categorized per “eco-design”, “gemmology”, “innovation” and “promotion” and their sub-categories. Elaboration by the Authors.

A higher percentage is found for studies related to the eco-design category, which covers both aspects related to the extraction of rough stones in the main mining contexts as better described in the previous section, as well as those of conscious design from the design phase to the education phase toward responsible consumption. This is followed by the category gemmology with studies of stones from their theoretical approach, to their demand in the market to contemporary scenarios of lab-grown stones; the category innovation with an in-depth look at the applications of the latest technologies to the gemmological field; and finally the category promotion with experiences of communicating past and contemporary jewelry in a virtual environment [Fig. 13]. These categories confirm the scientific nature of the multiscale approach of the present study on the topic of gemstone design from the atomic to the object scale outlined in the introduction.

Figure 13. Percentage of selected articles per categories. Elaboration by the Authors.

Deferring to the conclusion for a more in-depth discussion of the scientific papers related to the specific category "innovation," which is closer to the disciplinary scope of design and therefore of greater interest to this paper, we recall by way of example the most significant publications in the remaining three categories. For the "eco-design" category, papers 11 (Serdari, 2017) and 51 (Mallampalli, 2022) introduce ergonomic studies to improve the technical characteristics of gem processing machines and thus the performance in terms of production in an eco-oriented way; for the “gemmology” category, publication 55 (Dhaher, 2023) defines an analytical protocol for the evaluation and selection of high-quality gemstones; for the “promotion” category, noteworthy is article 33 (Balzani, 2024), which proposes strategies for extended fruition in a virtual environment of heritage including some gemstones.

Therefore, in line with the areas of interest and contributions of the articles, the qualitative analysis will continue with the retrieval and content analysis of the full papers and will cover future developments of this study.

4. Conclusions

Reading the outcomes of the literature review according to a content-specific focus on the discipline of design revealed interesting declinations of the theme in the category of “innovation”. Significant experimentation is noted in the areas of 3D modeling and 3D printing for analysis and design with applications also in fields other than gemology, as well as in the application of the most advanced AI technologies for the formulation of predictive scenarios and block-chain for the evaluation, traceability and security of valuables.

While in absolute terms the specific category “innovation” has shown a growing interest of the scientific community in the developments and results obtained thanks to digital technologies in the gemmological field, it is in percentage terms less widespread in the scientific literature compared to the categories “eco-design” and “gemmology”.

The achievement of the objective of the present research emerged from the literature review, which highlighted the advantages in terms of sustainability of digital modeling at all stages and in different possible applications. In this sense, the outcomes arrived at by the following publications are particularly significant and illustrative of the experiments from the atomic to the object scale that are still ongoing in the scientific landscape. Publication 3 (Zheng, 2025) proposes a method for optimizing circular matrix cuts of gemstones through mathematical and geometric models based on parameters that can improve brightness, uniformity, and scintillation. On the other hand, paper 14 (Zhu, 2023) presents resource optimization in the field of jewelry design and processing of synthetic stones through a protocol that defines the operational process from the 3D model construction stage to its prototyping. Scientific paper 39 (Rifai, 2021) extends the applications of 3D printing to the medical field specifically to additive manufacturing techniques for the fabrication of diamonds in the orthopedic field. Finally, publication 6 (Lyu, 2024) applies generative AI in the field of jewelry design through an experimental study also based on industry questionnaires; while publication 22 (Alnuaimi, 2022) proposes the use of block-chain for digital certification and sale history of gemstones.

This result encourages the authors in pursuing this line of research by directing future developments also to multidisciplinary experiments of the topic, enabling to move with greater awareness in current investigative scenarios.

Acknowledgements

This research is part of a wider study carried on in the framework of the agreement between Department of Architecture and Industrial Design, Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli and the Michelangelo Museum in Caserta (Scientific Coordinators Proff. Pasquale Argenziano, Alessandra Avella, Nicola Pisacane) having as its subject matter, among others, research activities about the tangible and intangible collections held at the Museum.

The authors designed the research and shared its methodology and contents. In particular, the paragraph entitled “Literature search parameters in the SLR review process and data visualization” is edited by Nicola Pisacane and the paragraph entitled “Qualitative and quantitative analysis in the PRISMA research approach” is edited by Alessandra Avella. Introduction and Conclusions are edited by both authors.