And the process requires a significant amount of gold powder, more gold than might be required initially to make a piece using more traditional methods.

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After hitting the American market as a digestive aid, the green-gold powder worked its way into professional kitchens by the mid-1990s, and has gained a growing following.

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Behind a tinted glass panel 18-carat gold powder, laid down by a robot arm, sparkles as a laser fuses the metal into complex three-dimensional shapes, layer by layer.

BBC: How tech is transforming jewellery

Ghost-like mounds of powder-like gold can be seen, forever waiting for transportation to the northern Mexican city of San Luis Potosi for refinement.

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The new store's powder blue and gold walls and velvet-upholstered chairs are inspired, she explained, by Marie Antoinette's theater in the Petit Trianon at Versailles.

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