GDANSK: Long coveted for its golden colour, scientific value and alleged healing properties, young Polish jewellers are transforming ancient amber into trendy pieces for the contemporary consumer.

Designers working with the translucent fossil are combining traditional tools like drills, sanders, blasters and power saws with state-of-the-art technology at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, a city on Poland’s Baltic Coast known as the global amber capital.

In virtual reality studios, students use their screens to silently assemble objects that spin, whirl and twist, and may one day become a new generation of prized jewellery.

“From the very start, we learn the complete processes (of design), how to apply our creativity to them, how to use diverse technologies,” student Martyna Golinska said.

She is particularly drawn to the CNC numerical milling technique, most often used in the aerospace, automotive and medical industries. For fellow student Paulina Smigiel, the challenge in these simulations is to translate one’s artistic vision into the language of numbers a machine can understand. “If we succeed,” she said, “no other mechanical intervention is necessary”.

This is how rings, necklaces, bracelets, masks, tiaras and more are brought to life: made from or adorned with amber dipped into or wreathed in gold, silver or titanium.

Whether they are milled or 3D-printed, standalone pieces or combined with other stones, minimalist or complex, they are not the traditional pieces of amber jewellery synonymous with Polish gift shops.

“We encourage students to look for their own keys, their own ways of ‘hacking’ different technologies, whether they are traditional or more recent, or still only just appearing on the horizon,” said 26-year-old graduate-turned-assistant instructor Zuzanna Franczak. “It’s constantly evolving, and artificial intelligence is already starting to make an appearance,” she added.

The students’ creativity is showcased in pieces and catalogues as well as at a dedicated exhibition at the Amber Museum along the Baltic Coast, on what was once known as the “Amber Road”. One of the most important trade routes of classical antiquity, it was here that so-called “Baltic gold” was transported to the Mediterranean.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2026