Sustainable, Ethical and Eco Conscious Jewellery
Finding jewellery that is sustainable, ethical and eco-conscious can be a challenge but more and more of us are trying to do just that. Today sees the launch of Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 here in the UK so its the perfect time to explore what this means for jewellery buying and how these considerations influence my creative process.
I’m passionate about the natural environment and leaving as light a footprint on it as I can. I struggled in the past to find jewellery that matched my desire for affordable beautiful jewellery with a conscience and so I decided to make my own! I want to share that love and help people find unique, ethical, sustainable jewellery that helps them connect with nature and celebrate it and their own uniqueness.
Ensuring my jewellery is sustainable, ethical and as eco-friendly as possible is at the centre of my business. For me being ethical in jewellery design
means to be aware of and make choices about the wider impact of each piece of jewellery; from the materials it's made from to the final sale to the customer.
Jewellery making often relies on poorly paid workers – mining gold, silver or diamonds for example – in a way that is hugely damaging to the environment and those individuals and communities. Transparent working practices, fair wages and regulated working conditions is one way of achieving good ethical standards. Schemes which help buyers choose conflict-free diamonds for example are another step in the right direction. Choosing recycled materials to make new pieces, or elements of jewellery from is an even better step and much more sustainable!
Ethical jewellery also means that the jewellery is usually made by a skilled artisan who is provided a fair wage for their work. To me this means smaller scale production, most often hand-crafted jewellery that the consumer buys to enjoy for a lifetime – not quick, cheap fashion jewellery that is bought to be worn once! Something made with love, care and attention.
The customer is also a part of this chain. Ensuring that when buying a piece, knowing the origin of it, the story behind it and that the making process and even the packaging has had as little impact on the environment as possible means the final piece can be worn with pride for years, knowing that they have a beautiful, hand-crafted and ethical piece of jewellery.
I’ve tried hard to implement sustainable and ethical practices in my own creative process. I use a material called Precious Metal Clay (PMC) to make the majority of my naturally inspired pieces. Essentially this is a combination of fine silver particles mixed with binders and water to create a clay or paste which you then form into a design and fire in a kiln to leave a 99% pure silver item!
Apart from this being completely addictive and like magic it is also a fantastic choice for eco-conscious jewellery as it uses recycled silver from photographic, computer hardware and other industries to form the clay. The one I use is made by Mitsubishi in Japan. It has a lovely pliability and texture to it and comes in a range of different forms including paper like, syringe, clay and paste. I mainly use the fine silver clay, but you can also get a sterling silver version for items that need to be more robust like key rings. No process is clearly 100% sustainable or impact free, but this does mean material that would otherwise be thrown away is re-used and created into something beautiful. Its also absolutely massively fun to work with, because quite frankly turning clay into silver with fire just seems like magic!
I also source gems and other materials from reputable dealers: I want to know that my products support good working practices and as little environmental impact as possible. I find places like Kernowcraft, Cooksongold and The Curious Gem are places whose standards allow me to buy reputable jewellery supplies.
My packaging is all recycled and recyclable – except for the inserts inside which I am working on! I use the most exquisite hand died bamboo silk ribbons from The Botanical Dyer which can be reused. Even my source material – the leaves and plants I use all - come from my garden or local environment in small quantities. I don’t use any animal products in my design process either, which is very important to me.
I worked in Nature Conservation for about 20 years and have seen first hand the result of negative human impact on species and habitats when sustainable and ethical decisions are not at the heart of what we do. It saddens me greatly to know that despite much effort the world over, we still see wide scale species loss, destruction of habitats and social justice inequalities. It didn’t feel like a decision to me to incorporate ethical decision making into my design process – it was an absolute basic starting point for everything I do. I try to live in a way that aligns with these values, and want to make sure my jewellery reflects that. My jewellery celebrates the natural environment so I feel its even more important it doesn’t have a negative impact on it.
I know as a consumer I want to know much more about the products I buy and their wider impact. I see a definite move towards supporting more sustainable products. People want to connect with what they are buying and the people that have made it. Supporting local, or small businesses, especially when it comes to art, beauty and fashion seems to be on the rise. I know when I talk to my customers they want products which reflect their values and that tell a story; that they can feel good about. I think one of the things we are seeing is much more consideration from consumers about what they are buying – ensuring it's something they really want, less disposable, more sustainable. I hope the trend continues with sustainability at the heart of it.
I constantly review my practices and my designs to ensure I’m making the best choices I can. I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments on other ways to incorporate sustainability into my practice.
