Ivory

When the word ivory is mentioned one invariably asks the question of whether it is actually allowed.

The answer is a clear yes if one limits oneself to the old stocks which have been certified by the Federal Office for Conservation.

And to ensure that they correspond with both the European and world wide regulations, SINGULUM keyboard pieces are only turned using pre-convention ivory. This means that we only use ivory which originates from before the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of 26.02.1976.

The remaining stocks are correspondingly rare and expensive. An authentic certificate from the Federal Office for Conversation is naturally provided with each case.

The company Bücking has bought, sold and prepared ivory since the 18th century. Rainer Bücking is an acclaimed expert who has experience of making almost everything with the material. The turning of the sleek pieces was therefore in expert hands.

The colouring, however, was new territory for him and a real challenge. Ivory is a very hard and dense material which is very similar to enamel. This means that most colours are unable to penetrate it. It was ultimately a technique from ancient China which brought the required effect.

With the support of the German Ivory Museum for the recipe and approach, he succeeded in making the first playing pieces in China red. The colouring he used was fuchsia. He has now perfected his skills in this area and has also found a way of colouring the pieces black.