ETHICAL POLICY

ETHICAL BEGINNINGS

Committed to Ethical Sourcing since 2012

When starting my business in 2012 I quickly became aware of the environmental and ethical issues involved in making jewellery. My first step on my ethical sourcing journey was to find a refiners that supplied recycled silver and gold and make the switch away from newly mined metals.

Finding suppliers of ethical gemstones at that point was much harder, but I am pleased to say that over the years there has been a much greater awareness of ethical issues in jewellery and many more opportunities for a small business such as mine to discover ethical suppliers.

There will sometimes be a small amount of newly mined metals in my jewellery - chain, clasps and other 'findings' are not available in any other form. However I am moving towards making these myself so I only use the absolute minimum of newly mined metals

FAIRMINED GOLD

Licensed Brand for Fairmined Gold and Silver as of 2020

"Fairmined is an assurance label that certifies gold from empowered responsible artisanal and small-scale mining organizations. It transforms mining into an active force for good, ensuring social development and environmental protection, providing everyone with a source of gold to be proud of".

By using your consumer power to purchase Fairmined gold and associated precious metals, you are actively supporting responsibly managed community mines, ensuring miners are paid a fair wage and reducing environmental impact. The result? A strong emotional connection between you and the origins of your gold.

RECYCLED METALS

Why not stick with recycled?

For many years, I agreed with this sentiment. I've always been committed to reducing my footprint on the earth - reduce, reuse, recycle. Using recycled silver and gold felt like a natural part of this mindset. Mining for gold is environmentally destructive, there can be no doubt about it, so let's reuse and recycle what we've got, right?

Unfortunately it has more recently been pointed out to me that the amount of newly mined metals isn't reducing. If anything it's increasing with our increasing demand for electronics that use precious metals, as well as luxury jewellery. This was a wake up moment for me, when I realised that I could and should be more actively giving back to the communities mining for precious metals. Our lust for gold isn't going to reduce anytime soon and those miners (including children) are often incredibly vulnerable working in awful conditions.

I still believe that recycling is an important part of a jeweller's offering and can be an emotional experience for a consumer, for example when commissioning new pieces to be made from inherited jewellery, thus retaining that sentimental value and transforming gold into something new to be worn and loved. This is why you will see both Fairmined and recycled metals used in my work.

DIAMONDS AND PRECIOUS GEMS

Carefully selected, always

I am committed to ethically sourcing the diamonds and precious gems I use. In reality this means that I only use a very small number of suppliers who I am confident in their practices and approach.

Although there is still no official organisation for ensuring the provenance of diamonds and gemstones, there are good people out there doing brilliant things. Back in 2014 whilst searching for ethical gems I happily stumbled across an organisation called Nineteen48, who have exceptionally high standards when it comes to supplying beautiful gemstones. Since then it's been a gradual process, but I now have a number of trusted suppliers with transparent and certified supply chains, allowing me to choose gemstones that are mined in a fair and environmentally-friendly way.

I still have some gemstones of unknown origins from my early days. I will continue to use these up out of respect for the people who mined them but would now not buy anything other than traceable gemstones.

I am also able to source recycled and lab-grown diamonds, synthetic precious gemstones as well as work with your heirloom gems.

WORKSHOP PRACTICES

A green studio

In my workshop I use traditional techniques underpinned with modern values. This means that I limit my use of chemicals, only use non-toxic polishing compounds, recycle all waste (of course) and dispose of anything harmful to the environment responsibly.

My studio is supplied by green energy and all my office stationary is recycled. All of my parcel packaging is recycled and recyclable or biodegradeable. I ask that when you receive a parcel from me you reuse, recycle or compost what you can.

And last but not least my jewellery packaging - ring boxes, etc - are either made from recycled card or from beautiful sustainable wood.

If you have any questions about any of the above or would like to know anymore, please don't hesitate to contact me.