Those are not cases. Gold,
leather, and jewels have
been applied directly to the
aluminum of these iPhones.
PHOTO: Aurum Edition
Baths for the plating process
at Aurum Edition. PHOTO:
Aurum Edition
Aurum Edition founder
Dmitry Lischina. PHOTO:
Aurum Edition
Python and ostrich hides are
two of the exotic materials
available for customizing the
iPhone. PHOTO: Aurum Edition
Gilding iPhones in Ukraine
If your iPhone feels precious out of the box, hand it over to Dmitry Lischina for a
couple of weeks. Lischina’s creations might help you understand the true meaning
of
precious
as you hold an iPhone unlike any other.
Lischina’s company, Aurum Edition (
aurum
is the Latin word for gold), could
have made phone cases but instead developed a business around pulling apart
iPhones and plating them with 24K gold, exotic animal leather, and diamonds.
Aurum Edition gives an average of 30 iPhones each month luxurious make-
overs, returning them to the owners in handcrafted wood boxes. Customization
runs between $2,200 and $4,400.
“Every phone that has passed through [our] hands became original and,
without exaggeration, unique,” Lischina explained. “Despite the large number of
orders, we always hear the customers and take all their wishes into account. We try
to realize their dreams, even in the smallest detail.”
While a number of jewelry and precious metals companies will gold-plate and
bejewel gadgets, few are likely to have had such humble origins as Aurum Edition.
Lischina taught himself the gilding process in a poorly ventilated garage with
one light bulb in Kiev, Ukraine. The spark of an idea came in 2005 when he bought
a beat-up Nokia 8800.
Because a brand-new Nokia phone was out of his price range, Lischina set-
tled for one on eBay that worked but had a cracked screen and lots of scratches.
He pulled it apart, replaced the glass, and polished it to look like new.
UKRAINE
KBP
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