By Rob Shaw
Creative CADworks capitalizes on new technologies and business practices to deliver array of unique services
Creative CADworks was founded in 2009 by Hemdeep and Kamal Patel, a third generation in the family jewellery firm Ujas Gemport, which has been providing wholesale coloured stones to the jewellery trade since the 1960s.
The brothers are both graduates of University of Toronto and GIA (Gemmological Institute of America). Previously in 2004, keen to further pursue their expertise in gemology, they established HKD Diamond Laboratories in Toronto. Within four years, the Patels had opened HKD labs in Mumbai and Bangkok providing advanced gemological analysis and reports.
According to Hemdeep Patel, “We knew that this growing industry would be a perfect fit for our skills, and that we were witnessing growth and endless possibilities in the emerging 3D industry. With Creative CADworks, we have developed a business that provides complete custom jewellery design, education, 3D printing and manufacturing solutions to the jewellery trade in Canada.”
Team effort
The company’s seven-member team is led by Hemdeep and Kamal as CEO and CTO respectively while others are responsible for financial management, online marketing, web and social media and order fulfillment.
The Patels attribute their success in the jewellery industry to staying ahead of the competition by moving outside of tradition to capitalize on new technologies and business practices. “We have invested heavily in a number of leading 3D printers and we have learned the strengths and weaknesses of the available technologies. This has allowed us to focus on our customers needs and led us to successfully create our own castable resin, CCW Castable HD resin, which we manufacture and export globally for use in the jewellery industry.”
Constantly evolving
Once again, they are leading the way in gemology by evolving Creative CADworks to provide a more complete array of services for 3D printing and CAD design. For example, they use CAD software to create the most appropriate setting design, taking advantage of the unique features of each particular gemstone. They fine tune the burn-out and casting procedure for 3D printed resin models, and they have helped large scale manufacturers fine tune their own printing procedures for better efficiencies.
In addition to the advanced software and 3D printers they distribute, Creative CADworks offers education and training services in the basics of RhinoGold 3D jewellery design software and print models on 3D printers. In 2018, they we will introduce parametric design training, using Grasshopper, which teaches how to design with the aid of computer coding. Training can also be fully customized to suit client needs.
Looking to the future
The Patels believe that many retailers are challenged by competition from e-commerce and other retail channels but they can bring customers back into their stores by offering exceptional services, such as in-house custom CAD jewellery design. Whereas clients began using Creative CADworks’ CAD services early on, now they have brought CAD services into their own retail establishments and purchase Creative CADworks’ products and training for staff.
Going forward in 2018, the Patels believe there will be two major trends of change in the jewellery industry—the growth and use of CAD and 3D printers at the retail level, and the growing impact of utilizing algorithmic modeling, such as Grasshopper, to create parametric designs. Their own goals for this year include the global launch of their advanced castable resin while also continuing to provide training, 3D printers, software and resins to the jewellery industry.
According to Hemdeep Patel, “In 2018, we are now firmly established as a Canadian-based technology company and are looking to the future to see how our technological capabilities can be applied globally in research and industry.”
